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WHEN  ARE  WE  HAPPIEST? 


OR 


THE   LITTLE   CAMERONS. 


THE  AUTHOR  OF  "THE  BOY  OF  SPIRIT,"  "THE  BELLE, 
THE  BLUE,  AND  THE  BIGOT,"  ETC. 


SIXTEENTH  EDITION. 


BOSTON: 

CROSBY,    NICHOLS,    AKD    COMPANY 

117  "Washington  Street. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress  in  the  year  1850,  by 

Wm.  Crosby  and  H.  P.  Nichols, 

in  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  for  the  District  c 

Massachusetts. 


JO 

THE    MOTHERLESS    CHILDREN, 

AT    WHOSE    REQUEST    AND    FOR   WHOSE    INSTRUCTION 

THIS    LITTLE    WORK    WAS    WRITTEN,    IT    IS 

AFFECTIONATELY    INSCRIBED: 

THAT   IT   MAY   LEAD    THEM    ONWARD   IN   THE    PATH    OF 

TRUE    HAPPINESS    IS    THE    EARNEST    WISH    OF 

THEIR    DEVOTED    FRIEND, 

CORNELIA. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER 

I.  Introduction  to  the  Camerons 

II.  The  Little  Text-books 

III.  A  Sunday  at  Walnut  Hill 

IV.  The  New  School 

V.  Lizzie's  Journey        . 

VI.  Lizzie's  Letter  from  New  York 

VII.  Ghost  Stories    .... 

VIII  Older  Sisters        .... 

IX.  Poor  little  Eliza  Carter 

X.  Lizzie's  return  Home  . 

XI.  When  are  we  happiest  ? 


PAGE 

1 

10 

22 

37 

52 

64 

78 

93 

108 

118 

135 


WHEN  ARE  WE  HAPPIEST? 


CHAPTER  I. 


INTRODUCTION    TO    THE    CAMERONS. 

Little  boys  and  girls,  do  you  wish  to  make 
some  new  acquaintances  ?  I  dare  say  that  you 
have  a  great  many  friends  now,  that  you  think 
are  very  near  perfection  ;  but  I  hope  that  there 
is  still  room  in  your  hearts  for  some  dear  little 
Southern  children.  Now,  try  and  see  if  you 
can't  like  them,  when  I  tell  you  who  they  are, 
and  how  they  look,  and  where  they  live.  You 
will  not  mind  if  they  are  not  handsome,  when 
you  find  what  warm  hearts  they  have  ;  and  per- 
haps, before  you  get  through  reading  this  book, 
you  will  be  tempted  to  write  me  a  letter,  and 
ask  where  such  nice  little  playmates  are  to  be 
found. 

1 


2   INTRODUCTION  TO  THE  CAMERONS. 

If  you  have  never  been  at  the  South,  you 
cannot  imagine  how  different  it  is  from  New 
England.  At  first,  you  would  not  know  what 
the  tall  plant  was,  with  large  leaves,  and  little 
tufts  of  flowers  at  the  top,  with  which  so  many 
fields  are  covered  ;  and  when  told  that  it  was 
tobacco,  you  would  wonder  how  it  ever  changed 
to  the  dry  brown  or  yellow  stuff  which  is  sold 
at  the  North  as  cigars,  snuff,  and  tobacco.  By 
and  by  you  would  see  tall  log-houses,  with  no 
windows,  and  some  one  would  tell  you  that  the 
tobacco  was  hung  all  around  the  inside  of  these 
houses,  and  then  a  fire  was  kept  in  the  middle, 
until  it  was  thoroughly  smoked  and  dried. 

You  would  almost  rub  your  eyes  to  see  if  a 
cloud  had  not  come  over  them  which  made 
every  body  look  dark,  for  there  would  be  black 
faces  at  work  in  the  fields,  and  black  men  driv- 
ing all  the  carts  and  carriages  you  would  meet, 
and  funny  little  black  babies  looking  out  of  the 
cabin-like  houses  scattered  here  and  there  along 
the  road. 

Have  you  a  dislike  to  negroes  ?  Ah,  well ! 
you  will  get  over  it  before  you  have  been  long 
at  the  South,  and  it  may  be  that  you  will  begin 
to  call  some  of  those  very  black  people  "  aunt " 


INTRODUCTION    TO    THE    CAMERONS.        3 

and  "  uncle  "  !  You  laugh  at  the  very  idea,  but 
I  can  assure  }rou  that  the  little  people  to  whom 
you  are  about  to  be  introduced  always  call  the 
old  servants  by  these  titles,  and  to  them  it  does 
not  seem  at  all  strange. 

"Are  you  talking  about  slaves?"  my  little 
readers  ask,  in  a  tone  of  surprise.  To  be  sure, 
but  we  will  not  enter  into  any  discussion  about 
the  evils  of  slavery.  When  you  have  grown 
up,  you  can  form  your  own  opinion  upon  this 
subject,  and  I  have  mine  ;  but  for  the  present 
we  will  forget  that  it  is  a  disputed  point.  The 
servants  whom  you  will  become  acquainted  with 
here  are  so  kindly  treated  and  so  happy,  that 
you  will  soon  forget  that  they  are  not  perfectly 
free. 

But  if  we  stop  so  long  on  the  road,  we  shall 
never  get  to  Walnut  Hill.  Ah,  there  it  is, 
rising  above  the  woods  with  wThich  it  is  sur- 
rounded. Is  that  a  village  in  the  distance, 
among  the  trees  ?  there  is  no  spire  rising  from 
it.  Yes  ;  it  is  a  village,  notwithstanding,  for 
the  people  are  all  Methodists,  and  those  square 
brick  buildings,  of  which  you  can  just  see  the 
tops,  are  the  New  Side  and  the  Old  Side 
churches. 


4        INTRODUCTION    TO    THE    CAMERONS. 

O,  only  see  that  little  girl  on  horseback! 
Are  you  not  afraid  that  she  will  fall  off?  Yet 
she  does  not  seem  to  have  any  such  fears,  for 
she  gives  the  horse  a  stroke  with  the  whip,  and 
calling  to  the  black  boy  who  is  riding  behind 
her,  "Come  on,  Jack,"  she  dashes  forward 
like  a  real  horsewoman.  That  is  Mary  Cam- 
eron, and  the  group  of  little  girls  who  are 
standing  at  the  gate  through  which  she  has  just 
passed  are  her  sisters.  You  cannot  see  their 
faces,  because  they  are  almost  hidden  by  their 
deep  sun-bonnets,  but  you  will  notice  their  ani- 
mated gestures,  and  hear  their  laughing  voices. 
What  merry  children  they  must  be  ! 

Now,  there  is  some  one  at  the  door  of  the 
pleasant-looking  house,  who  is  calling  to  the 
girls  to  come  in.  Is  it  their  mother  ?  O,  no. 
These  poor  children  have  no  mother,  and  a 
few  weeks  since  the  lady  who  had,  in  some 
measure,  supplied  her  place,  left  them,  and 
now  there  is  no  one  but  the  housekeeper  to 
take  care  of  the  little  orphans  ;  I  mean  that 
there  is  no  lady  to  fill  a  parent's  place,  for  their 
father  is  very  kind  in  providing  for  all  their 
wants,  but  he  cannot  of  course  supply  a  moth- 
er's loss  as  fully  as  he  would  wish  to  do. 


INTRODUCTION    TO    THE    CAMERONS.        5 

It  is  Lizzie,  the  eldest  sister,  who  is  standing 
in  the  door,  and  though  she  looks  so  tall,  she  is 
only  just  fourteen.  The  dear  girl  has  a  great 
deal  of  care  now,  and  does  all  she  can  for  the 
younger  ones,  but  still  she  often  feels  sadly 
discouraged.  But  she  looks  very  happy  now, 
and  the  reason  is  that  she  has  just  received  a 
letter  from  their  teacher,  Miss  Fenwick,  and 
she  wishes  to  read  it  to  her  sisters.  As  soon 
as  they  understand  what  she  wants,  they  run 
eagerly  to  the  house,  and  cluster  around  her  on 
the  porch.  Now  you  can  catch  a  peep  at  their 
faces,  as  they  toss  back  their  sun-bonnets  that 
they  may  hear  the  much-wished-for  letter  more 
plainly.  Let  us  listen  to  what  Miss  Fenwick 
says. 


"  I  know  that  my  dear  children  are  impatient 
to  hear  from  me,  but  they  cannot  be  more  so 
than  I  am  to  write  to  them.  Almost  every 
hour  I  think  of  you  all,  and  try  and  picture  to 
myself  how  you  are  employed. 

"  Lizzie,  I  conjecture,  is  trying  her  skill  in 
dress-making,  and  perhaps  complaining  now  and 
then  that  Margaret  and  Jennie  are  such  little 
1  * 


0        INTRODUCTION    TO    THE    CAMERONS. 

rail-figures  that  there  is  no  making  any  thing 
set  to  them,  while  Alice  endeavours  to  obey  my 
parting  instructions,  and  finish  those  poor  aprons 
which  have  hung  upon  her  hands  so  long. 

"  As  for  Mary,  in  spite  of  her  double  advan- 
tage in  being  able  to  sew  with  both  hands,  I  do 
not  think  she  has  yet  completed  her  tasks,  for 
in  all  probability  those  little  rag  dolls  have 
made  great  demands  upon  her  attention,  and 
there  is  no  doubt  that  Meggy  and  Jennie  have 
devoted  themselves  to  the  crack-brained  and 
one-armed  ladies  who  were  so  miserably  in 
want  of  clothes  when  I  last  saw  them. 

"  These  bright  spring  days  have  not  been 
all  spent  in  the  house,  I  know,  but  you  have 
explored  the  woods  for  early  flowers  and  pretty 
moss,  and  Lizzie  has  bent  many  an  hour  over 
her  daily  rose-bushes,  and  the  pet  jessamine, 
which  by  this  time  must  reach  above  the  parlour- 
window. 

u  But  though  I  can  fancy  how  pleasantly  you 
are  passing  your  time,  my  dear  children,  there 
is  one  hour  when  I  am  sure  that  you  miss  your 
absent  friend.  Do  you  not  think  of  me  at  the 
time  which  we  used  to  devote  to  our  morning 
Bible  lesson  ? 


INTRODUCTION    TO    THE    CAMERONS.        7 

■ c  You  may  remember  that  you  all  begged 
me  to  write  to  you  about  those  subjects  on 
which  we  have  so  often  conversed  with  so 
much. pleasure,  and  to  give  you  such  advice  as 
you  were  accustomed  to  receive  during  our 
favorite  lesson.  I  promised  to  do  so,  but 'it  is 
impossible  to  give  you  in  writing  .the  counsel 
that  you  all  daily  need.  I  pray  that  some  one 
may  be  sent  to  instruct  you,  more  capable  of 
benefiting  you  than  I  could  ever  be  ;  but  for 
the  present  you  must  learn  to  depend  upon  the 
infallible  guide  which  I  left  in  your  hands. 

cc  The  more  you  search  the  Scriptures,  the 
more  fully  will  you  be  convinced  that  they 
contain  all  that  .is  necessary  for  your  instruc- 
tion. 

cc  Alice  sometimes  used  to  say,  that,  when 
she  did  any  thing  wrong,  she  seemed  always  to 
find  some  text  which  condemned  her  the  very 
next  time  that  she  opened  her  Bible,  and  I  am 
sure  you  must  all  have  had  the  same  expe- 
rience. 

"  Now,  what  I  want  you  all  to  do  is,  to  read 
daily  those  plainer  and  more  practical  portions 
of  Scripture  which  I  pointed  out  to  you,  and 
to  select  the  lessons  which  they  contain  before 


8        INTRODUCTION    TO    THE    CAMERONS. 

closing  the  book,  endeavouring  to  commit  as 
many  as  you  can  to  memory.  When  you  find 
any  passage  which  forbids  a  fault  to  which  you 
are  inclined,  the  older  ones  must  set  down  the 
place  where  the  text  is  found,  if  they  have  not 
tune  to  copy  the  text  itself,  in  little  blank  books, 
which  they  must  keep  for  this  purpose. 

"  Do  you  understand  what  I  mean  ?  I  will 
try  and  explain  it  to  you.  Some  of  you  are 
very  quick-tempered,  and  need  every  aid  in 
restraining  your  angry  passions.  At  the  head 
of  one  page  of  their  blank  books,  Lizzie,  and 
Alice,  and  Mary  can  write  u  Anger,"  and 
WThen  they  find  any  text  condemning  a  hasty 
spirit,  they  can  put  it  down  under  this  head. 
Those  who  are  accustomed  to  give  too  free 
reins  to  their  tongues  may  have  the  next  head 
in  iheir  books  c  Rules  for  Conversation,'  and 
place  under  it  all  the  maxims  which  they  can 
find  for  prudence,  kindness,  and  consideration 
in  their  discourse.  You  will  find  in  Proverbs 
a  great  deal  upon  this  subject,  besides  a  wrhole 
chapter  in  one  of  the  Epistles,  which  I  leave 
you  to  discover. 

"  I  know  you  all  have  sufficient  quicknes3 
of  mind  to  follow  out  this  plan,  so  I  will  only 


INTRODUCTION    TO    THE    CAMERONS.         9 

mention  a  few  more  heads  under  which  it  would 
be  well  to  collect  passages  of  warning  and  ad- 
vice. These  are,  '  Respect  to  Superiors,' 
'Politeness,'  l  Treatment  of  Servants,'  '  Kind- 
ness to  one  another,'  '  Sin  of  Selfishness,' 
'Right  Use  of  Time,'  'Encouragement  to 
Prayer,'  and  '  Parental  Care  of  God.' 

"  I  shall  be  delighted  to  learn  that  you  have 
added  many  more  to  this  list,  and  have  not  only 
set  them  down  in  your  books,  but  implanted 
them  in  your  hearts.  But  you  will  never  be 
successful,  my  dear  children,  in  self-govern- 
ment, unless  you  have  the  aid  of  our  Heavenly 
Father,  which  you  must  always  implore  fer- 
vently before  reading  the  Sacred  Word.  I, 
too,  shall  never  cease  to  ask  that  He  may  guide 
you  into  all  truth. 

"  Give  my  best  respects  to  your  kind  father, 
and  write  to  me  very  soon.      Tell  me  all  that 
you  are  doing  with  the  same  freedom  as  if  I 
were  still  with  you,  and  ever  believe  me 
"  Your  devoted  friend, 

"Amelia  Fenwick." 


CHAPTER   II. 


THE    LITTLE    TEXT-BOOKS. 

When  Lizzie  Cameron  awoke,  the  next 
morning  after  the  receipt  of  Miss  Fenwick's 
letter,  the  first  thing  of  which  she  thought  was 
the  plan  of  putting  down  texts  in  a  little  book, 
and  thus  making  out  a  set  of  regulations  for  her 
own  conduct. 

Now  Lizzie,  to  own  the  truth,  was  not  as 
fond  of  the  Bible  as  her  younger  sisters,  but 
she  liked  any  thing  new ;  and  as  the  nurse 
shrewdly  observed,  "it  would  have  been  well 
if  her  zeal  lasted  to  the  end  of  her  undertak- 
ings." But  for  a  short  time  there  was  no 
checking  the  industry  of  the  impetuous  girl, 
and  on  this  morning  there  was  but  one  idea  at 
work  in  her  busy  brain.  So  fully  occupied 
was  she  with  this,  that  she  forgot  all  Miss  Fen- 


THE    LITTLE    TEXT-BOOKS.  II 

wick's  lessons  upon  the  necessity  of  doing 
every  thing  "  decently  and  in  order,"  and  put 
on  one  of  her  stockings  wrong  side  outward, 
and  only  half  finished  her  hair.  As  she  was 
hurrying  down  stairs,  her  dress  caught  upon  a 
nail  and  tore  out  the  gathering. 

"  Confound  the  old  dress  !"  she  exclaimed, 
half  in  a  passion  at  her  own  carelessness,  "  it  is 
always  catching  at  something  ";  and  she  tried  to 
pin  up  the  rent  so  that  it  might  not  be  observed. 

u  Are  you  not  ashamed,  Lizzie  ?"  said  Mary, 
in  a  very  grave  tone,  for  she  was  rather  given 
to  preaching.  "  You  know  Miss  Fenwick 
said  that  we  must  not  say  'confound,'  or  any 
such  word,  lest  we  fall  into  condemnation." 

u  Silence  in  the  court-room,  Mit  is  going  to 
preach.  You  think  yourself  so  smart,  Miss," 
retorted  Lizzie,  in  a  vexed  tone,  as  she  opened 
the  dining-room  door,  and  seated  herself  at  the 
head  of  the  table. 

Major  Cameron  was  very  easy  to  please 
about  most  things,  but  he  was  extremely  par- 
ticular with  regard  to  his  coffee,  and  a  teaspoon 
ful  too  much  of  cream  or  sugar  ruined  it. 
Lizzie  generally  managed  to  suit  him  very  well3 
but  now  her  mind  was  occupied,  and  she  mixed 


12  THE    LITTLE    TEXT-BOOKS. 

an  uninviting  cup  half  full  of  cream,  which  her 
father  had  no  sooner  tasted  than  he  pushed  it 
away  with  evident  disgust. 

"  Hand  another  cup  to  Miss  Lizzie,"  he 
said,  in  a  somewhat  stern  tone,  to  little  black 
Jim,  who  was  at  his  elbow,  "  and  let  her  see 
if  she  cannot  give  me  some  coffee  more  fit  to 
drink." 

Lizzie's  tears  unfortunately  lay  quite  too 
near  her  eyes,  and  now  two  large  ones  rolled 
out  down  her  cheeks  and  fell  upon  the  tray 
before  her. 

"  Father  does  not  wish  salt  water  in  his  cof- 
fee," whispered  Alice,  playfully. 

"  Do  n't  make  a  baby  of  yourself,  Lizzie," 
exclaimed  her  father,  for  he  had  a  horror  of 
tears,  "  only  try  and  be  more  attentive.  An 
absent-minded  woman  will  never  have  good 
manners,  and  you  must  endeavour  to  have  your 
thoughts  about  you." 

Luckily,  the  tears  which  come  so  readily 
are  easily  dried  ;  and  when  Major  Cameron  left 
the  table,  his  children  were  full  of  good-nature 
and  animation. 

"  Did  you  ask  father  about  our  books  ?"  in- 
quired Alice,  eagerly. 


THE    LITTLE    TEXT-BOOKS.  13 

<c  No,  I  did  not  dare  to,  he  was  so  cross 
Jais  morning,"  replied  Lizzie. 

"  How  can  you  say  so  ?"  interposed  Mary, 
"  He  only  told  you  not  to  fill  his  coffee  with 
cream." 

The  reentrance  of  the  father  put  an  end  to 
the  discussion  which  might  here  have  followed, 
for  I  am  sorry  to  say,  that,  though  Lizzie  would 
not  allow  any  one  else  to  speak  unkindly  to 
one  of  her  sisters,  she  sometimes  assumed  a 
dictatorial  tone,  and  provoked  them  to  anger. 
Miss  Fen  wick  often  used  to  tell  her  that  she 
would  be  answerable  for  the  sins  that  she  thus 
made  them  commit ;  but  habits  are  hard  to 
overcome,  and  Lizzie  often  spoke  more  harshly 
than  she  intended  or  felt.  It  is  difficult  for 
elder  sisters  to  receive  advice  from  younger 
ones  meekly,  and  Mary  was  rather  too  apt  to 
proffer  hers,  without  reflecting  whether  it  would 
be  "  a  word  spoken  in  season."  Alice  used 
to  be  equally  ready  in  giving  her  opinion,  but 
of  late  she  had  been  trying  very  hard  to  do 
what  was  right,  and  this  made  her  diffident  in 
condemning  others. 

u  Was  that  letter  from  Miss  Fen  wick,  which 
you  received  yesterday,  Lizzie  ?"  asked  Major 
2 


14  THE    LITTLE    TEXT-BOOKS. 

Cameron,  as  he  came  in  and  seated  himself  by 
a  window,  with  an  open  newspaper  in  his  hand. 

"  Yes,  Sir,  and  she  wished  to  be  remember- 
ed kindly  to  you,"  answered  Lizzie. 

"  What  else  did  she  say,  daughter  ?  You 
may  as  well  get  the  letter  and  read  it  to  me." 

With  this  request  Lizzie  readily  complied, 
and  when  she  had  done  reading  the  letter,  her 
father  said,  —  "  Well,  my  children,  I  only  wish 
that  you  may  profit  by  such  good  advice.  1 
am  going  to  the  village  this  morning,  and  will 
send  you  up  some  blank  books  to  be  used  as 
Miss  Fenwick  proposes.  How  many  do  you 
want?" 

"  Three,"  said  Lizzie,  decidedly. 

"  Four,"  interposed  Margaret,  who  had  just 
begun  to  write  fine  hand. 

"  O,  get  me  one,  father,  get  me  one,  wont 
you,  wont  you?"  interrupted  Jennie,  eagerly; 
"  I  can  write,  and  sister  Alice  will  fix  it  for 
me,  wont  you,  Ally  ?  " 

"  But,  Jennie,  you  don't  know  how  to  make 
all  the  letters  yet,"  remonstrated  Alice,  in  a 
kind  tone. 

"  Jennie  is  such  a  tease,  father,  that  we 
can't  do  any  thing  with  her,"  remarked  Li:«- 


THE    LITTLE    TEXT-BOOKS.  15 

zie,  in  a  very  reproving  manner.  "  She  al- 
ways wants  to  do  every  thing." 

"  O,  Jennie  is  a  pretty  good  girl,  on  the 
whole,  though  she  is  not  quite  old  enough  yet 
to  write,"  remarked  the  Major,  as  he  stooped 
down  and  kissed  the  little  noisy,  warm-hearted 
child,  who  was,  as  she  herself  often  trium- 
phantly asserted,  a  great  favorite  with  her 
father. 

About  an  hour  after  this  discussion,  Lizzie 
might  be  seen  diligently  ruling  her  own  and 
Mary's  text-books,  while  Alice  was  seated  by 
herself  in  her  little  chamber,  reading  very  at- 
tentively the  first  chapter  of  the  Epistle  of  St. 
James,  to  which  she  had  just  come  in  the  reg- 
ular course  of  morning  lessons.  Before  open- 
ing the  sacred  volume,  she  had  offered  a  short 
prayer  that  the  eyes  of  her  mind  might  be 
opened  to  understand  the  holy  word,  and  her 
heart  made  ready  to  fulfil  its  commands.  Be- 
fore closing  the  book,  she  marked  in  the  mar- 
gin those  verses  which  seemed  to  her  to  contain 
practical  instruction.  As  she  was  on  her  way 
down  stairs  to  copy  off  these  texts,  Margaret 
met  her,  with  her  light  hair  flying  loose  around 
her  neck,  and  the  ribands  in  her  hand. 


16  THE    LITTLE    TEXT-BOOKS. 

"  Please  stop,  Alice,  and  braid  my  hair  ;  it 
all  came  down  while  I  was  running  across  the 
yard,"  said  Margaret,  in  an  imploring  tone. 

"You  are  so  "  commenced  Alice,  in 

a  hasty  tone  ;  but  one  of  the  texts  which  she 
had  just  read  came  into  her  mind,  —  "If  any 
man  among  you  seem  to  be  religious,  and 
bridleth  not  his  tongue,  that  man's  religion  is 
vain"  ;  so  she  made  an  effort,  and  said,  kindly, 
—  "  Well,  come  back  up  stairs,  Meggy,  and  I 
will  tie  it  up.  I  wish  you  would  try  and  keep 
it  always  in  a  little  better  order.  Where  is 
your  new  apron  ? " 

"  You  have  not  yet  put  the  strings  upon  it, 
and  I  could  not  find  those  that  were  washed 
last  week." 

Alice  had  taken  the  care  of  Margaret,  who 
was  only  three  years  younger,  entirely  upon 
herself,  and  this  duty  demanded  no  small  effort 
upon  her  part,  for  she  disliked  sewing,  and  it  was 
a  real  trial  for  her  to  sit  down  and  repair  all  the 
clothes  which  Meggy  would  manage  to  rip  and 
tear  in  the  course  of  the  week.  It  is  true  that 
she  did  not  make  such  dire  destruction  in  her 
wardrobe  as  the  careless  little  Jennie,  but  still 
she  kept  Alice  employed,  and  sometimes  tried 


THE    LITTLE    TEXT-BOOKS.  17 

her  patience  severely.  But  this  morning  Alice 
had  read  the  Bible  to  some  purpose,  and  it  had 
taught  her  to  be  "  a  doer  of  the  word,  and  not 
a  hearer  only,  deceiving  her  own  soul."  She 
now  sat  down  cheerfully  to  finish  Meggy's 
apron,  singing  in  a  sweet,  though  uncultivated 
voice,  one  of  the  spirited  Methodist  hymns, 
which  she  had  caught  from  some  of  "  the 
people,"  as  the  black  families  are  called. 

"  Only  look,"  exclaimed  Lizzie,  when  Alice 
came  into  the  dining-room,  "  I  have  got  four 
pages  of  my  book  filled  already,  and  Mary  is 
going  to  copy  them.  I  took  my  reference 
Bible,  and  looked  out  first  all  I  could  find 
upon  anger,  and  then  upon  government  of  the 
tongue,  and  right  use  of  time.  Don't  look  at 
that  page.  My  hand  was  tired  writing,  but  the 
rest  look  quite  neatly." 

Alice  did  not  withhold  her  praise  from  the 
well  selected  texts,  but  she  remarked, — ."  I 
thought,  Lizzie,  that  Miss  Fenwick  meant  that 
we  should  put  down  the  texts  as  they  occurred 
in  our  reading,  and  not  all  at  once.  Would  it 
not  be  better  for  Mary  to  find  them  out  for 
herself?" 

"  O,  no  '"  said  Mary,  who  had  been  dressing 
2* 


18  THE    LITTLE    TEXT-BOOKS. 

her  dolls,  forgetting  her  usual  morning  lesion. 
"  I  will  try  and  practise  those  that  Lizzie  has 
found  out." 

Alice  remembered  that  one  of  the  precepts 
she  had  read  was,  to  be  "  slow  to  speak,"  so 
she  said  no  more,  but,  quietly  taking  out  her 
new  blank  book,  reopened  her  Bible,  and 
thought  under  what  heads  she  should  put  the 
passages  which  she  had  marked. 

The  first  verse  was,  "Let  patience  have  her 
perfect  work,"  and  Alice  placed  u  Patience" 
at  the  head  of  the  page,  and,  as  she  did  so, 
resolved  not  to  be  so  easily  put  out  of  temper 
by  her  younger  sisters.  Then  she  came  to 
the  passage,  "  If  any  man  lack  wisdom,  let 
him  ask  it  of  God,"  and  this  she  placed  under 
one  of  the  titles  which  Miss  Fenwick  had  pro- 
posed, "  Encouragement  to  Prayer." 

But  it  would  take  too  long  to  tell  all  the 
lessons  which  may  be  learned  from  this  one 
chapter.  Let  my  little  readers  look  through 
it  themselves,  and  see  how  many  lessons  they 
can  obtain,  and  then  they  can  judge  how  much 
may  be  learned  from  going  through  the  whole 
Bible  in  the  same  way.  It  was  very  fortunate 
that  Alice  commenced  her  text-book  with  this 


THE    LITTLE    TEXT-BOOKS.  19 

portion  of  Scripture  ;  for  it  fixed  in  her  mind 
the  very  truths  which  made  the  plan  proposed 
so  beneficial,  —  that  "  Whoso  looketh  into  the 
perfect  law  of  liberty  and  continueth  therein, 
he  being  not  a  forgetful  hearer  but  a  doer  of 
the  word,  this  man  shall  be  blessed  in  the 
deed." 

Lizzie  had  made  out  a  most  excellent  col- 
lection of  texts,  but  she  had  neglected  to  ask 
that  they  might  be  impressed  upon  her  mind, 
and  was  too  much  fatigued,  when  she  had  done 
copying  them,  to  have  enough  self-command 
to  perform  the  duties  of  the  day  well.  A  ride 
on  horseback  relieved  the  pain  in  her  chest, 
but  still  she  felt  through  the  day  the  languor 
and  irritability  which  always  followed  any  ex- 
traordinary exertion. 

The  rest  of  the  children  passed  the  day 
quite  merrily,  for  it  was  a  lovely  Saturday, 
and  when  at  night  Major  Cameron  returned 
home,  he  looked  around  with  pleasure  on  the 
bright  faces  which  welcomed  him.  His  man- 
ner to  Lizzie  was  more  kind  than  usual,  as  he 
said,  —  u  You  must  not  mind,  my  daughter,  if 
sometimes  I  am  a  little  impatient  with  you.  I 
see  the  effort  that  you  are  making  to  do  right, 


20  THE   LITTLE    TEXT-BOOKS. 

and  give  you  full  credit  for  the  care  that  you 
take  to  render  me  comfortable,  and  your  little 
sisters  happy.  This  coffee  is  excellent,  and 
I  am  sure  that  I  shall  have  a  very  fine  manager 
before  long." 

Lizzie  blushed  at  this  praise  from  her  father, 
for  she  was  very  fond  of  him  ;  and  when  she 
went  up  stairs  to  see  that  the  younger  children 
were  comfortably  established  for  the  night,  her 
manner  to  them  was  quite  gentle  and  motherly, 
and  they  told  her  what  they  had  done  wrong 
during  the  day,  as  if  she  had  been  twice  her 
actual  age. 

When  Alice  and  Mary  were  alone  together 
in  their  little  bedroom  that  evening,  Mary  re- 
gretted that  she  had  not  once  thought  of  her 
texts  the  whole  day,  and  now,  when  she  wished 
to  think  whether  she  had  practised  them,  she 
could  not  remember  what  half  of  them  were. 

Alice  asked  again,  kindly,  if  it  would  not  be 
better  to  select  a  few  passages  for  herself  every 
day,  which  she  could  keep  in  mind  ;  and  Mary, 
who  was  quicker  in  acknowledging  errors  than 
firm  in  correcting  them,  owned  that  it  would 
be  a  wiser  plan,  and  promised  to  commence  it 
the  next  day.     The  little  girls  then  talked  very 


THE    LITTLE    TEXT-BOOKS.  21 

pleasantly  of  the  happiness  which  they  felt 
when  doing  right,  and  fell  asleep,  repeating, 
"  Blest  be  the  tie  that  binds  our  hearts  in 
Christian  love,"  with  their  arms  abound  each 
other's  necks.  Their  conversation  had  given 
a  sweet  expression  to  their  young  faces,  which 
made  them  look  lovely  in  spite  of  their  little 
mob  caps  and  sun-burnt  skins.  As  they  lay 
there  so  sweet  and  peaceful,  one  felt  sure  that 
"  angels  would  watch  them  while  they  slept, 
till  morning  light  appeared  " 


CHAPTER  III 


A    SUNDAY    AT    WALNUT    HILL. 

"  There  comes  Jennie,  I  '11  be  bound," 
said  Major  Cameron,  as  he  heard  a  child  half 
tumbling  down  the  stairs  on  Sunday  morning. 
"  She  always  contrives  to  make  more  noise 
than  any  other  six  children." 

The  Major  was  not  mistaken,  for  in  came 
Jennie,  limping  and  puffing,  but  not  too  much 
stunned  by  her  fall  to  give  the  door  a  tremen- 
dous bang  as  she  shut  it  after  her. 

"  You  certainly  are  the  clumsiest  girl  that 
ever  lived,  Jennie  ;  if  you  can't  be  more  quiet, 
keep  out  of  my  sight,"  exclaimed  the  Major, 
whom  a  tremendous  pain  in  his  head  had  ren- 
dered somewhat  irritable. 

"Have  you  a  pain  in  your  head,  father?" 
asked  Jennie,  with  perfect  good-nature,  not  in 
the  least  abashed  by  this  stern  reproof. 


A  SUNDAY  AT  WALNUT  HILL.     23 

"  I  have  nothing  else,"  he  replied,  half  vex- 
ed and  half  amused  at  the  coolness  with  which 
his  reproof  had  been  received. 

But  though  Jennie  was  somewhat  indifferent 
to  her  own  misconduct,  she  could  not  bear  to 
see  any  one  she  loved  in  pain,  and  her  plain, 
frank  face  immediately  wore  a  sympathizing 
expression,  as  she  said,  in  a  more  gentle  tone, 
—  "I  am  sorry,  father.  Wont  you  come  and 
lie  on  the  sofa,  and  let  me  hold  your  head,  and 
bathe  it  with  camphor  ?" 

"  It  is  too  heavy  for  you,  my  darling,"  re- 
plied the  Major,  his  momentary  anger  entirely 
subdued  ;  but,  to  please  Jennie,  he  lay  down, 
and  allowed  her  to  bathe  his  head  with  her 
little  plump  hands. 

The  announcement  that  breakfast  was  ready 
obliged  Jennie  to  give  up  the  burden,  of  which 
she  was  so  proud,  but  a  good  appetite  recon- 
ciled her  to  the  loss,  and  she  was  soon  seated 
at  the  table,  with  an  air  of  perfect  content. 

"  Where  is  Lizzie  ?"  asked  the  Major, 
rather  impatiently. 

At  this  moment  Lizzie  entered  the  room, 
saying,  in  an  apologetic  tone,  —  "  Excuse  me, 
father,  but  I  could  not  find  my  hair-ribands." 


24  A    SUNDAY    AT    WALNUT    HILL. 

"  You  will  lose  your  head  some  day,  if  you 
don't  take  care.  Come,  sit  down  quickly, 
and  give  me  my  breakfast,  for  perhaps  my 
head  will  feel  better  after  eating  something." 

In  a  few  seconds  all  the  other  little  Cam- 
erons  were  in  their  places,  and  the  Major 
could  not  help  thinking  to  himself  that  his 
children  were  indeed  like  "  olive-branches 
around  his  table." 

And  well  might  a  father  be  proud  of  five 
such  promising  daughters.  There  was  Lizzie, 
first,  —  every  body  said  that  she  would  make 
a  fine-looking  woman,  when  she  was  a  little 
more  stout,  and  had  learned  to  carry  her  height 
better.  To  be  sure,  it  was  not  becoming  to 
her  to  have  her  hair  tucked  up,  as  it  was  this 
morning,  on  account  of  the  loss  of  her  hair- 
ribands  ;  but  then  she  had  brushed  it  very 
smooth,  and  her  mousseline-de-laine  fitted 
nicely,  although  she  had  cut  it  herself,  and, 
what  was  more  remarkable,  as  yet  there  was 
not  a  single  darn  in  it.  Lizzie  made  the  largest 
rents  in  her  dresses  of  any  of  the  family,  and 
the  reason  was,  that,  when  any  of  them  caught 
upon  a  nail  or  chair,  instead  of  stopping  quietly 
to  disentangle  herself,  she  would  give  such  a 


A   SUNDAY   AT    WALNUT    HILL.  25 

twitch  as  even  the  stoutest  material  could  not 
bear.  She  was  getting  more  careful,  however, 
from  feeling  strongly  the  necessity  of  setting  a 
good  example  to  her  younger  sisters. 

There  was  no  fear  that  Alice  would  copy 
this  fault,  for  she  moved  about  the  house  with 
the  gravity  of  an  old  woman,  from  a  sort  of 
natural  indolence,  but  yet  in. play  she  was  un- 
commonly active.  Her  figure  did  not  promise 
to  be  as  fine  as  her  elder  sister's,  for  she  had 
a  habit  of  stooping,  which  made  her  shoulders 
look  round  ;  but  since  she  had  tried  to  govern 
her  temper,  there  was  a  sweet  expression  upon 
her  face,  and  when  she  smiled,  the  deep  dimples 
in  her  smooth  cheeks  were  very  pretty.  Her 
skin,  too,  was  quite  fair,  if  she  protected  it 
from  the  sun,  and  when  she  felt  in  a  pleasant 
mood,  her  voice  was  so  sweet  that  it  was  very 
agreeable  to  hear  her  talk. 

Still  a  great  many  declared  that  Mary  was 
the  prettiest,  for  her  black  eyes  sparkled  from 
under  their  dark  lashes,  and  her  figure  was  so 
straight  and  trim  that  every  thing  she  wore  fitted 
nicely.  She  was  such  an  obliging  child,  too, 
that  one  could  not  help  loving  her,  and  when 
Margaret  and  Jennie  had  a  favor  to  ask,  it  was 
3 


26  A    SUNDAY   AT    WALNUT    HILL. 

almost  always  of  "  sister  Maty."  Even  at  the 
breakfast  table  Margaret  was  whispering  to  her, 
which  wTas  very  wrong,  and  probably  she  said 
something  funny,  for  Mary  had  hard  work  not 
to  laugh.  It  might,  however,  have  been  Meg- 
gy's droll  way,  but  still  her  small,  keen  face 
was  lighted  up  with  a  comical  expression,  as 
if  some  droll  thought  passed  through  her  active 
brain. 

"  Who  preaches  to-day,  father  ?"  asked 
Lizzie,  as  they  rose  from  the  table. 

"  No  one  at  either  of  the  churches,  except- 
ing a  colored  preacher  to  the  people,  this  even- 
ing. I  shall  be  away  all  day,  and  you  must 
keep  the  children  in  order,  and  try  and  set 
them  a  good  example." 

Lizzie  always  felt  a  little  flattered  at  having 
the  rest  of  the  family  placed  under  her  charge, 
and,  for  a  girl  of  her  age,  she  certainly  man- 
aged as  well  as  could  have  been  expected. 
Nobody,  surely,  could  have  formed  better  plans 
than  entered  her  mind,  but  the  great  trouble 
was,  that  she  seemed  to  spend  so  much  thought 
about  how  she  should  do  every  thing,  that  she 
had  very  little  strength  left  to  carry  out  Ler  plans. 

As  soon  as   Major  Cameron  had  left  the 


A  SUNDAY  AT  WALNUT  HILL.     27 

house,  his  eldest  daughter  said,  very  soberly,  to 
the  rest  of  the  children,  — - ' '  Now,  I  will  tell  you 
what  I  think  would  be  the  best  plan  for  passing 
this  day.  First,  I  will  read,  as  Miss  Fenwick 
always  did,  several  chapters  in  the  Bible ;  then 
I  will  give  you  all  your  lessons  for  this  after- 
noon's Sunday-school.  When  you  have  learn- 
ed them,  I  have  a  book  to  read,  which  I  think 
you  will  find  interesting,  if  it  is  not  too  old  for 
Meggy  and  Jennie.  After  dinner  I  will  hear 
your  recitations,  and  then  we  will,  as  usual, 
devote,  each  of  us,  an  hour  to  the  instruction 
of  our  little  black  scholars.  If  any  time  is  left 
before  supper,  we  can  spend  it  in  singing  or 
repeating  hymns." 

The  children  all  agreed  that  this  would  be  a 
very  profitable  way  of  passing  the  day,  but  Alice 
asked  her  sister  if  she  did  not  intend  to  devote 
any  of  it  to  the  instruction  of  the  older  servants, 
as  Miss  Fenwick  had  requested  them  to  do. 

"  Why,  I  believe  not,"  answered  Lizzie, 
somewhat  hesitatingly,  "if  you  will  do  it. 
They  don't  listen  well  to  me,  and  I  find  it  so 
hard  to  make  them  understand  any  of  the  more 
interesting  portions  of  Scripture." 

Alice  felt  some  diffidence  about  taking  this 


28     A  SUNDAY  AT  WALNUT  HILL. 

duty  on  herself,  as  she  was  only  twelve  years 
old  ;  but  still  she  felt  its  necessity,  as,  since 
her  mother's  death,  they  had  become  respon- 
sible for  the  instruction  of  those  whom  Provi- 
dence had,  in  a  manner,  placed  under  their 
care.  She  promised  to  try  it  this  once,  and 
asked  to  be  made  the  means  of  doing  good  to 
those  in  whom  she  felt  so  deep  an  interest. 

The  chapters  which '  Lizzie  chose  to  read 
never  failed  to  interest  the  young,  for  they  con- 
tained the  history  of  Joseph.  As  Alice  saw 
how  interested  the  little  audience  were  in  lis- 
tening to  the  oft-repeated  tale,  she  thought,  that, 
if  the  children  could  understand  it  so  easily, 
she  might  make  it  plain  to  the  servants,  so  she 
resolved  to  read  the  same  passages  to  them. 

When  Lizzie  had  finished,  the  girls  selected 
their  lessons  for  the  afternoon.  Alice  chose 
the  hundred  and  third  Psalm,  which  she  ad- 
mired, and  Mary  the  twenty-third,  as  she  was 
not  able  to  commit  so  many  verses  to  memory. 
Margaret  and  Jennie  were  harder  to  please,  foi 
they  had  set  their  hearts  upon  the  same  hymn- 
book,  because  it  was  small,  and  prettily  bound  ; 
and  when  Lizzie  showed  them  that  a  larger  one 
contained   the  verses  they  had  chosen,  there 


A    SUNDAY   AT    WALNUT    HILL.  29 

was  some  difficulty  in  persuading  either  of  them 
to  take  it. 

At  length,  all  the  children .  were  seated  at 
their  lessons,  and  Lizzie,  who  had  a  slight 
toothache,  went  up  stairs  for  some  camphor, 
and  to  tie  up  her  hair,  as  she  had  found  the  lost 
ribands  in  the  pocket  of  the  dress  that  she  had 
worn  the  day  before.  Suddenly,  her  text-book 
came  into  her  mind,  and  she  remembered  that 
she  had  not  once  thought  of  it  since  it  was 
closed  the  morning  before. 

"  There  is  no  use  in  my  trying  to  be  good," 
she  said  to  herself.  "Iara  sure  it  is  not  my 
fault,  for  I  do  all  I  can  ;  but  the  more  I  read 
the  Bible,  the  worse  I  grow." 

Yes,  there,  was  truth  in  that,  for  every  com- 
mand of  Scripture  may  render  us  better ;  but 
if  we  do  not  practise  what  we  read,  like  other 
privileges  that  we  abuse,  it  will  increase  our 
condemnation. 

Lizzie  -neither  asked  God  to  bless  the  Bible 
to  her,  nor  opened  it  with  a  teachable  spirit,  and 
a  resolution  to  make  it  the  rule  of  her  life. 
She  often  said,  u  Christians  ought  to  obey  it, 
but  I  am  not  a  Christian,"  as  if  that  were  any 
excuse  for  sinning  against  a  kind  Creator  ! 
3* 


30  A    SUNDAY    AT    WALNUT    HILL 

Poor  Lizzie  !  She  had  been  trying  this 
morning  to  do  her  duty,  but,  with  all  her  efforts 
she  felt  what  she  had  often  remarked,  that 
"  Sunday  was  a  dull  day,"  and  this  feeling 
troubled  her,  because  she  also  remembered 
that  it  is  mentioned  as  one  of  the  peculiarities 
of  God's  children  that  they  "  call  the  Sabbath 
a  delight." 

Ah  !  Lizzie  had  too  much  conscience  to  be 
happy  in  doing  wrong,  and  had  not  yet  the 
resolution  or  principle  to  choose  firmly  the 
right.  There  was  much  work  yet  for  the 
Holy  Spirit  in  her  wilful  young  heart. 

"  Miss  Alice,  Aunt  Beck  say  the  kitchen  is 
ready  for  you  to  come  read  now,  if  you  is  will- 
ing," said  a  little  negro,  at  about  eleven  o'clock, 
as  he  thrust  his  head  into  the  door  of  the  dining- 
room,  which  opened  out  upon  the  yard  leading 
to  the  kitchen. 

u  Is  any  body  there,  Jim,  but  our  own  fam- 
ily ?"  asked  Alice,  ready  almost  to  draw  back 
from  the  duty. 

"  Only  Mrs.  Franklin,  Dilly,  and  old  Uncle 
Bill.  Aunt  Becky  says  you  need  not  mind 
them,  Miss  Ally." 

"  Well,  get  me  a  glass  of  water,  and  tjien  I 
will  come,"  said  Alice. 


A    SUNDAY    AT    WALNUT    HILL.  31 

"May  I  go  with  you?  O,  do  let  me," 
asked  Jennie,  jumping  up,  and  letting  her 
hymn-book  fall  on  the  floor. 

"  And  I,  too,"  said  Margaret,  laying  hers 
upon  the  chair  Jennie  had  just  quitted. 

"  Have  both  of  you  learned  your  lessons  ?  " 
asked  Alice,  who  much  preferred  that  they 
should  remain  where  they  were. 

"  No,  but  it  is  no  matter,"  said  Jennie  ;  "  I 
lost  the  place  that  Lizzie  gave  me,  and  have 
only  just  found  it,  and  now  it  has  gone  again." 

"  Well,  then,  you  must  look  it  up,  for  you 
cannot  either  of  you  go  with  me,"  said  Alice, 
in  rather  too  decided  a  tone,  as  she  hurried  out 
of  the  door,  with  her  Bible  in  hand. 

The  kitchen  was  at  such  a  distance  from  the 
house  that  it  was  a  wonder  that  any  thing  warm 
ever  reached  the  table,  and  the  smoking  dishes 
that  were  placed  upon  it  did  owe  their  heat  to 
the  activity  of  the  servants.  They  considered 
themselves  as  entire  mistresses  of  the  little 
log-house  of  which  the  kitchen  was  a  part,  and 
did  the  honors  with  as  much  politeness  as  many 
a  lady  would  have  done. 

It  was  certainly  a  comfortable  looking  place, 
as  the  fresh,  sweet  spring  air  came  in  through 


32  A    SUNDAY    AT    WALNUT    HILL. 

the  open  door  and  windows  ;  for  the  floor  and 
the  hard  wooden  chairs  had  been  newly  washed, 
and  all  the  dishes  nicely  put  away,  excepting 
the  few  bright  tin  ones  which  hung  around  the 
fireplace. 

In  the  most  comfortable  of  the  chairs,  lean- 
ing her  elbows  on  the  large  pine  table,  sat  the 
oldest  servant  on  the  place,  Aunt  Polly,  and  a 
more  faithful  creature  never  lived.  To  be 
sure,  she  was  rather  cross  when  any  one  asked 
her  about  the  "  misery  "  in  her  back,  or  her 
phthisic  ;  but  though  she  had,  as  she  said, 
"  one  foot  in  the  grave,"  nothing  could  per- 
suade her  to  give  up  working,  or  caring  for  her 
master's  interest.  "  A  servant  is  in  bondage, 
but  she  must  be  obedient,"  was  her  motto, 
and  so  she  had  been  all  her  life.  If  she  could 
only  have  been  induced  to  take  a  little  rest,  her 
old  age  would  have  been  made  very  comforta- 
ble, and  now,  with  her  gay  handkerchief  upon 
her  head,  and  her  clean  linsey-woolsey  dress, 
she  looked  really  respectable.  Still,  Alice 
could  not  help  smiling,  as  she  looked  up  from 
her  book,  in  which  she  was  finding  the  place, 
at  seeing  the  strange  faces  which  old  Aunt 
Polly  was  making,  to  frighten  into  silence  a 


A    SUNDAY    AT    WALNUT    HILL.  33 

little  black  baby,  who  was  seated  on  the  floor 
beside  her,  or  at  the  threatening  gestures  with 
which  she  waved  a  switch  over  the  head  of  an- 
other negro  child,  who  was  sitting  by  the  little 
one  to  amuse  it.  But  Aunt  Polly  had  no  idea 
of  hurting  either  of  them,  as  you  might  see  by 
the  strange  smile  which  played  over  her  large 
features,  at  the  pitiful  faces  with  which  the 
poor  children  looked  upon  the  rod. 

Aunt  Kitty,  the  fat,  good-humored,  motherly 
woman  in  the  opposite  corner,  had  her  own  way 
of  stilling  the  noisy  little  Brom,  and  that  wras 
feeding  him  constantly  with  hoe-cake,  which 
to  him  was  sweeter  than  gingerbread  ;  while  tall 
Aunt  Becky,  whose  child  he  was,  settled  her- 
self to  hear  the  good  book  that  she  so  much 
loved. 

Alice  had  only  just  commenced  reading 
when  three  or  four  of  the  men-servants  came 
in,  but  they  said,  very  respectfully,  "  Please 
read  on,  Miss  Ally,"  and  taking  off  their 
hats,  leaned  against  the  wTall  and  listened  atten- 
tively. 

The  story  of  Joseph  delighted  them  all,  and 
moved  Aunt  Kitty  almost  to  tears,  wrhile  old 
Uncle  Bill  declared,  that  hearing  Miss  Ally 


34  A    SUNDAY    AT    WALNUT    HILL. 

read  was  as  good  as  a  preaching,  or  a  funeral, 
or  a  class-meeting. 

Having  thus  interested  them  in  the  narratives 
of  the  Bible,  Alice  turned  to  some  passages 
which  she  had  found,  respecting  the  duties  of 
servants,  and  explained  what  was  meant  by 
<c  eye-service,"  and  u  rendering  obedience 
willingly,  as  unto  the  Lord,  and  not  unto  men." 

Before  the  youthful  teacher  had  finished, 
Mary  came  running  down  to  the  kitchen,  to 
say  that  some  children  had  just  come  to  spend 
the  day  with  them,  and  wanted  her  to  come 
and  play. 

"  But,  Mary,  it  is  Sunday,  and  we  must  not 
play,"  remarked  Alice,  as  they  walked  towards 
the  house.  "  Even  the  stranger  that  is  in  our 
gates,  we  are  told,  must  keep  the  Sabbath." 

"  I  know  that,  but  they  '11  be  vexed  if  we 
don't,"  said  Mary,  who  could  not  bear  to  dis- 
please any  one.  "  They  wont  stay  long,  per- 
haps, and  it  wont  be  so  very  wrong  just  to  run 
about  a  little." 

"  Well,  then,"  said  Alice,  who  was  sorely 
puzzled,  'Met  us  walk  quietly  to  the  woods, 
for  mother  used  to  go  there  sometimes  with  us 
on  *  Sunday  evening,  because  she  said  that  we 


A  SUNDAY  AT  WALNUT  HILL.     35 

were  so  used  to  running  about  that  it  made  us 
duJ]  to  be  shut  up  all  day.  But  we  '11  ask 
Lizzie  what  to  do." 

Lizzie,  however,  was  not  in  a  state  to  give 
advice,  for  she  had  a  violent  toothache  ;  so 
Alice  and  Mary  concluded  to  take  a  walk  with 
their  visiters,  the  little  Carters,  and  Jennie  and 
Margaret  were  permitted  to  put  up  their  books 
and  accompany  them.  For  a  little  while  they 
all  walked  soberly  along,  and  Alice  and  Mary 
tried  to  give  the  conversation  a  serious  tone, 
but  by  and  by  Jennie  and  Margaret  began  to 
run  races,  and  then  they  found  some  smooth 
stones,  which  would  make  such  nice  Jacks 
that  they  must  try  them,  and  Mary  was  tempt- 
ed to  join  with  Sarah  and  Eliza  Carter  in  the 
game. 

Now,  Alice  particularly  excelled  in  this  play, 
and  was  sorely  tempted  when  she  saw  all  the 
rest  thus  amusing  themselves,  bat  she  fortu- 
nately remembered  one  verse  that  she  had  set 
down  in  her  text-book  that  morning,  u  Whoso- 
ever shall  keep  the  whole  law  and  yet  offend 
in  one  point,  he  is  guilty  of  all,"  so  she  did  not 
dare  to  commit  even  a  small  sin.  She  walked 
courageously  away  from  the  rest  of  the  party, 


36     A  SUNDAY  AT  WALNUT  HILL. 

and,  seating  herself  under  the  tree,  repeated 
over  the  psalm  she  had  learned  that  morning, 
and  several  others,  before  the  game  was  done. 
On  their  return  to  the  house,  Sarah  and 
Eliza  Carter  concluded  to  remain  all  day.  In 
the  afternoon,  Alice  persuaded  them  all  to  lis- 
ten to  a  very  pretty  story,  but  they  were  obliged 
to  give  up  the  Sunday  school,  and  at  night  the 
children  did  not  feel  as  happy  as  they  often 
had  done.  They  all  went  early  to  bed,  and 
on  reviewing  the  events  of  the  day  before  their 
evening  prayers,  every  one  saw  that  it  was  the 
tendency  to  evil  in  their  own  hearts,  more  than 
the  company  of  their  little  companions,  which 
had  made  them  misspend  so  many  hours.  They 
remembered,  too,  that  they  should  be  account- 
able for  the  example  which  they  had  set  to 
their  little  visiters,  who  had  not  received  the 
same  religious  instruction,  and  resolved  that 
another  time  they  would  try  more  earnestly  to 
61  remember  the  Sabbath  day  and  keep  it 
holy." 


CHAPTER  IV. 


THE    NEW    SCHOOL. 

What  an  exciting  thing  it  is  for  children  to 
go  to  a  new  school ! 

Since  Miss  Fenwick's  departure,  the  little 
Camerons  had  had  a  vacation  ;  but  on  Monday 
morning  their  father  informed  them  that  he  had 
made  arrangements  for  their  attending  the  vil- 
lage academy.  After  various  expressions  of 
surprise  at  this  unexpected  intelligence,  and 
fears  lest  they  should  never  have  courage 
enough  to  say  their  lessons  to  a  gentleman,  or 
dare  to  ask  for  an  explanation,  the  older  girls 
concluded  that  they  should  really  be  glad  to  go 
back  to  their  studies. 

"  Margaret  and  Jennie  are  too  little  to  go 
to  school  with  us,"  said  Mary,  who  was  in  the 
habit  of  treating  her  younger  sisters  as  if  they 
4 


88  THE    NEW    SCHOOL. 

were  mere  babies,  compared  with  herself;  "  but 
I  suppose  that  they  will  be  put  in  entirely  differ- 
ent classes,  so  that  we  shall  scarcely  know  that 
they  are  there." 

"  You  have  no  time  to  lose,"  remarked 
Lizzie,  "  for  father  said  that  you  must  be 
ready  at  ten  o'clock  to  go  with  him,  and  it  is 
now  nearly  nine." 

"  O,  fix  me  first,  Lizzie,  fix  me  quick,  do," 
exclaimed  Jennie,  with  habitual  impatience. 
ft  Must  not  we  put  on  our  new  muslin  dresses 
and  worked  pantalette  ?  I  am  sure  we  ought 
to  wear  them  the  first  day,  and  I  want  my  blue 
hair-ribands,  and  the  little  gloves  Aunty  gave 
me,  and  my  bronze  shoes." 

"  How  foolish  you  are !  "  said  Mary,  in 
quite  a  contemptuous  tone.  "  You  forget  that 
we  are  only  going  to  school." 

"  Well,  I  don't  want  to  wear  that  ugly  cal- 
ico, either,"  said  Margaret.  u  I  am  afraid  all 
the  girls  will  laugh  at  me  "  ;  and  her  eyes  actu- 
ally filled  with  tears  at  the  bare  idea  of  being 
ridiculous. 

"  Margaret  is  so  afraid  of  being  laughed  at, 
I  dare  say  she  '11  cry  if  Mr.  Johnson  speaks  to 
her,  she's  such  a  baby." 


THE    NEW    SCHOOL.  39 

Margaret  did  cry  very  easily,  and  excite- 
ment, together  with  the  fear  of  going  among 
strangers,  now  made  her  rather  weak,  and  her 
blue  eyes  began  to  look  decidedly  watery  at 
these  remarks. 

Mary,  although  rather  severe  in  condemning 
the  little  follies  of  her  sisters,  was  very  kind- 
hearted,  and  could  not  bear  really  to  wound 
their  feelings.  "  Come,  don't  cry,  Meggy," 
she  said,  in  a  soothing  tone,  "  and  I  will  braid 
your  hair  nicely,  and  see  that  the  girls  shall 
have  no  cause  to  laugh  at  you.  Alice  wont 
let  them  impose  upon  us,  for  you  know  she 
always  takes  our  part,  and  they  are  afraid  of 
her." 

"  I  hope  there  will  be  no  need  of  my  aid," 
said  Alice.  "  I  do  not  mean  to  be  as  ready 
to  take  offence  as  when  I  last  went  to  school. 
Let  us  try  and  see  how  peaceably  we  can  get 
along.  You  know  they  c  that  would  have 
friends  must  show  themselves  friendly  ' ;  and  if 
we  are  kind  to  all  the  girls,  I  don't  believe  but 
what  they  '11  be  kind  to  us." 

u  Come,  come,"  said  Lizzie  impatiently, 
"we  can't  stop  to  hear  you  preach,  Alice. 
Susan  has  put  all  your  clothes  in  your  rooms, 


40  THE    NEW    SCHOOL. 

children,  and  will  get  your  dinners  ready  for 
you  to  carry." 

"  Put  in  enough  for  me,  Susan,"  was  Jen- 
nie's warning,  as  she  was  running  up  stairs  in 
her  usual  boisterous  way. 

When  the  little  girls  came  down,  they  were 
all  dressed  very  neatly  for  school,  with  the  ex- 
ception of  a  large  string  of  blue  glass  beads 
with  which  some  of  the  servants  had  presented 
Jennie,  and  which  Lizzie  had  allowed  her  to 
wear,  to  make  up  for  not  putting  on  her  bronze 
shoes,  upon  which  she  had  set  her  heart. 

"Who  '11  take  the  dinner-basket?"  asked 
Alice.  "  I  have  my  large  atlas  and  slate  to 
carry." 

"  And  I  mine,"  said  Mary,  "  but  Margaret 
can  take  it,  for  Jim  is  going  to  carry  all  Jennie's 
and  her  books." 

"  But  I  am  ashamed  to  take  that  old  basket. 
I  know  all  the  girls  will  make  fun  of  me,"  re- 
plied Margaret,  just  ready  to  cry  again. 

The  dinner-basket  was  rather  shabby,  for 
the  straw  was  broken  around  the  edge,  and  a 
piece  of  twine  had  replaced  the  handle,  which 
had  been  worn  off  by  swinging  it  constantly 
backwards  and  forwards. 


THE    NEW    SCHOOL.  41 

u  I  don't  care  how  it  looks,"  said  Jennie. 
"I  '11  carry  it,  and  then  I  can  take  a  luncheon 
by  the  way." 

"  No,  it  is  too  heavy  for  you,"  replied  Mary ; 
adding,  after  a  moment's  thought,  "I  '11  tell 
you  what  will  be  better.  You  can  take  my 
slate,  and  Margaret  my  atlas,  and  I  '11  carry 
the  basket.  You  know  we  must  c  bear  one 
another's  burdens.'  Is  not  that  what  the  text 
which  we  put  down  this  morning  means, 
Alice  ?  " 

Mary  had  not  forgotten,  this  time,  that  the 
passages  in  their  text-book  were  to  be  prac- 
tised upon,  as  well  as  written  neatly. 

Either  the  bright  morning,  or  the  pleasant 
walk  down  the  hill,  or  the  good  resolutions 
which  they  had  formed,  made  the  children  very 
light-hearted,  and  when  Major  Cameron  intro- 
duced them  to  Mr.  Johnson,  he  thought  that 
he  had  never  seen  four  happier  looking  chil- 
dren. They  submitted,  without  pouting,  to 
being  put  back  in  a  great  many  of  their  lessons, 
and  sat  down  very  quietly  to  their  tasks  for  the 
day. 

When  Alice  and  Mary  were  called  up  to 
recite  their  first  lesson,  they  were  able  to  say  it 
4# 


42  THE    NEW    SCHOOL. 

witho-jt  missing  a  word  ;  but  Alice  was  a  little 
too  much  pleased,  when,  through  the  inatten- 
tion of  those  above  her,  she  gained  the  head 
of  her  class.  It  was  more  amiable  in  Mary 
to  feel  pride  in  her  sister's  scholarship,  and  she 
deserved  credit  for  the  frankness  with  which 
she  owned  that  Alice  always  learned  more 
quickly  than  she  herself  was  able  to  do. 

When  the  second  class  in  geography  were 
summoned,  Margaret  fairly  trembled,  but  Alice 
whispered  to  her,  as  she  passed,  "Don't  be 
afraid.     I  '11  tell  you,  if  you  don't  know." 

The  first  question  which  came  to  Margaret 
had  such  a  short,  easy  answer,  that  she  got 
over  it  very  well,  and  began  to  feel  quite  reas- 
sured. Her  courage  soon  fell,  when,  after  two 
trials,  the  little  girl  next  above  her  could  not 
tell  wThat  was  the  capital  of  Illinois,  and  the 
question  passed  to  her.  She  knew  all  the 
capitals  perfectly  when  she  came  to  the  class, 
but  now  she  could  not  think  of  one  of  them. 
Her  head  was  hung  on  one  side,  and  her  eyes 
were  fast  filling  with  tears,  when  she  heard 
"  Springfield,"  in  a  low  whisper.  She  did 
not  wish  to  bring  Alice  into  difficulty,  so  she 
remained  silent  for  a  moment  longer,  and  then 
brought  out  the  answer  in  a  hesitating  tone. 


THE    NEW    SCHOOL.  43 

"Right,"  said  Mr.  Johnson.  "Go  above 
Eliza  Carter." 

Margaret,  who  knew  that  Eliza  could  have 
answered  as  well,  if  she  had  been  told,  did  not 
seem  willing  to  execute  this  command  ;  and 
Mr.  Johnson,  thinking  that  her  reluctance  arose 
from  diffidence,  said,  encouragingly,  —  "You 
must  not  be  too  modest  to  take  the  honor 
which  you  deserve.  Eliza  is  very  careless 
about  her  lessons,  and  ought  to  be  punished." 

Margaret  ought  to  have  had  the  frankness  to 
have  told  openly  the  reason  of  her  hesitation. 
but  she  feaied  to  bring  blame  upon  her  sister, 
and  had  too  little  independence  to  do  right ; 
so,  with  a  blush  of  shame,  she  moved  up  in  the 
class. 

As  soon  as  school  was  out  at  noon,  Alice 
went  to  Mr.  Johnson,  and  said,  in  a  low  but 
firm  tone,  —  "You  will  excuse  me,  Sir,  if 
I  say  that  I  do  not  think  Margaret  has  any 
right  to  be  above  Eliza  Carter.  She  says  she 
knew  her  lesson  perfectly  when  she  went  to  the 
class  ;  but  she  would  have  missed,  if  I  had  not 
whispered  the  answer  behind  her.  I  did  not 
think  at  the  time  that  I  was  doing  wrong,  but  I 
see  now  that  it  was  deceiving  you,  and  teach- 


44  THE    NEW    SCHOOL. 

ing  her  to  do  what  was  wrong.  I  believe  that 
she  would  have  told  you  the  reason  why  she 
did  not  wish  to  go  up,  if  she  had  not  feared 
that  you  would  blame  me  ;  so  I  thought  it  was 
my  duty  to  tell  you  about  it." 

Mr.  Johnson,  who  was  well  aware  that  this 
injurious  practice  was  common  among  his 
scholars,  under  the  false  idea  that  it  was  kind, 
was  surprised  at  this  frank  confession.  He 
did  not  praise  Alice,  but  he  thought  to  himself 
that  henceforward  he  could  rely  upon  her  truth- 
fulness. 

Children  become  acquainted  very  quickly, 
and  half  an  hour  after  the  intermission  com- 
menced, the  little  Camerons  were  as  much  at 
home  as  if  they  had  known  their  schoolmates 
for  years.  Alice  and  Mary  had  joined  a  party 
of  the  older  ones,  who  were  playing  Jacks  on 
the  large  table  in  the  centre  of  the  room,  while 
Margaret  was  looking  at  some  droll  pictures  in 
a  book  which  she  had  just  borrowed  of  her 
seatmate,  and  Jennie  was  skipping  the  rope  in 
the  yard,  managing  to  trip  herself  every  three 
minutes,  and  then  regaining  her  feet  with  equal 
dexterity. 

As  Alice  stood  waiting  for  her  turn  to  per- 


THE    NEW    SCHOOL.  45 

form  the  feat  of  "all-fours,"  upon  which  she 
prided  herself,  she  noticed  one  poor  little  girl 
who  stood  alone  in  the  corner  of  the  room, 
looking  towards  them  with  a  wistful  eye,  as  if 
she  longed  to  join  in  the  game.  "  Who  is  that 
in  the  faded  black  calico  and  torn  apron  ?" 
she  asked  of  Sarah  Carter,  a  lively  girl,  whom 
she  had  known  very  well  previously  to  com- 
mencing school. 

"Nobody  but  little  Fanny  Martin,"  replied 
Sarah,  very  disdainfully  ;  "  is  not  she  a  dirty, 
disagreeable-looking  little  thing  ?  All  the  girls 
laugh  at  her,  and  we  wont  any  of  us  play  with 
her.  You  know  who  her  father  is,  —  old  Bill 
Martin.  He  gets  drunk  every  day,  and  they 
say  that  's  what  killed  her  mother." 

"  Poor  child  !  "  said  Alice,  sympathizingly  ; 
M  no  mother  !  Then  that  's  the  reason  why 
she  looks  so  neglected.  Come  here,  Meg,  I 
want  to  speak  to  you,"  she  added,  endeavour- 
ing to  turn  Margaret's  attention  from  the  pic- 
ture with  which  she  seemed  so  much  amused. 

Meggy's  ear  was  at  length  gained  ;  but  when 
Alice  whispered,  "  Do  go  and  talk  to  that 
poor  little  girl  who  stands  there  alone,"  she 
did  not  seem  ready  to  comply  with  the  re- 


46  THE    NEW    SCHOOL. 

quest,  but  remained  in  silence,  rolling  up  the 
corner  of  her  gingham  apron,  and  running  her 
finger  through  the  hem. 

"  Why  don't  you  go,  Meggy  ?  Do,  that  's 
a  dear,  good  child,"  repeated  Alice,  persua- 
sively. 

Margaret  now  found  courage  to  whisper,  — 
"  I  dare  not.  None  of  the  girls  play  with  her  ; 
and  they  will  not  like  me,  if  I  do." 

u  How  mean  you  are,  to  be  so  afraid  of 
them  !  "  said  Alice,  in  an  impatient  tone ;  for 
she  was  so  independent  herself,  that  she  had 
very  little  consideration  for  Margaret's  failing. 

Alice  forgot  then  that  it  was  as  much  her 
duty  to  support  the  feebleminded  and  be  pa- 
tient toward  all,  as  to  remember  that  "  whoso 
despiseth  the  poor  reproacheth  his  Maker." 
It  is  so  much  easier  to  perform  the  duties  to 
which  we  are  naturally  inclined,  than  to  view 
with  charity  those  faults  to  which  we  have  no 
temptation. 

A  cunning  child  is  very  disagreeable,  and  an 
artful  one  still  worse  ;  but  even  the  very  young, 
when  they  wjsh  to  do  a  kind  act,  should  study 
the  most  prudent  manner. 

Alice  thought  for  a  few  moments  how  she 


THE    NEW    SCHOOL.  47 

could  improve  little  Fanny  Martin's  appear- 
ance, so  that  she  might  not  be  so  much  de- 
spised by  her  companions,  and  succeeded  very 
well  in  her  effort  to  effect  this  object.  She 
gave  up  playing  any  longer  at  her  favorite 
game,  and  this  little  act  of  self-denial  filled  her 
heart  with  peace,  and  made  her  tone  very 
sweet,  as  she  said  to  Fanny,  —  "  Will  you  not 
come  out  in  the  porch  with  me,  while  I  wash 
my  hands  ?  All  the  rest  are  busy,  and  they 
are  so  stained  with  ink,  that  it  will  take  some 
time  to  get  it  off.  Stop  a  moment,  till  I  get 
a  towel  out  of  our  dinner-basket." 

Fanny  Martin  really  looked  pretty,  in  spite 
of  her  dirty  face,  as  her  eyes  sparkled  and  her 
cheek  flushed  at  this  unexpected  kindness. 
She  chattered  away  very  pleasantly,  while 
Alice  tried  to  remove  the  ink  from  her  hands, 
and  was  not  at  all  offended  when  her  compan- 
ion remarked,  as  she  finished,  —  "  Now,  would 
you  like  to  wash  your  hands,  Fanny  ?  The 
roads  are  so  full  of  dust,  that  some  of  it  has 
settled  upon  your  skin,  and  if  you  wish  to  use 
my  towel,  you  are  welcome.  T  knew  we 
should  need  one,  and  asked  Susan  to  put  it 
up." 


48  THE    NEW    SCHOOL. 

Fanny  thankfully  accepted  this  offer  ;  and 
then  Alice  said,  as  she  took  a  clean  little  brush 
out  of  her  ample  pocket,  —  "  When  I  have 
smoothed  my  hair,  I  should  like  to  try  and 
braid  yours  like  Jennie's.  She  never  can 
do  it  nicely  herself." 

"  I  have  no  ribands,"  replied  Fanny,  with 
a  slight  expression  of  mortification. 

"Never  mind  !  I  can  give  you  part  of  mine, 
and  it  will  look  all  the  better,  for  it  is  too 
long  now." 

So  saying,  Alice  took  a  knife  from  her 
pocket  and  cut  her  nice  brown  riband  in  two, 
and  arranged  Fanny's  hair  so  well,  that  it  was 
no  wonder  her  schoolmates  scarcely  knew  her 
when  she  reentered  the  room. 

When  Sarah  Carter  saw  how  Alice  had 
been  employed,  she  drew  down  the  corners 
of  her  mouth  very  contemptuously,  and  whis- 
pered to  Anna  Mortimer  that  she  could  not 
see  how  any  gentleman's  daughter  could  touch 
such  a  vulgar  little  thing  as  Fanny  Martin. 
For  her  part,  she  should  not  play  with  Alice 
Cameron  any  more,  if  she  was  going  to  asso- 
ciate with  such  children. 

Mary  Cameron  overheard  this  whisper,  and 


THE    NEW    SCHOOL.  49 

her  quick  temper  was  instantly  aroused.  "I 
am  sure  Alice  will  be  glad  to  hear  that,"  she 
remarked  in  an  angry  tone,  while  her  cheeks 
crimsoned,  and  her  dark  eyes  sparkled  with 
indignation.  "  Are  you  not  ashamed  to  treat 
that  poor  little  thing  so,  just  because  she  has 
a  bad  father  and  no  mother  ?  " 

Mary  should  have  read  over  her  texts  upon 
the  u  Government  of  the  Tongue  "  that  morn- 
ing, and  then  she  would  have  known  better 
how  to  manage  the  "  unruly  member." 

Alice  saw  from  her  sister's  manner,  that 
some  unkind  remark  had  been  made  about  her 
conduct ;  but  she  was  fearless  of  blame  when 
sure  that  she  was  right,  so  she  whispered  to 
Mary,  —  "  Hush,  dear,  it  is  not  worth  mind- 
ing.    I  can  defend  myself,  if  necessary." 

"  Well,  if  you  don't  care,  I  am  sure  I 
don't,"  she  replied  aloud  ;  "  but  I  '11  let  her 
know  she  is  not  going  to  speak  so  of  me." 

"  Do  be  quiet,"  said  Alice,  in  a  low  voice. 
"  Don't  you  remember  that  there  is  a  woe  to. 
us,  when  all  men  speak  well  of  us  ;  but  '  if  we 
do  well  and  suffer  for  it  patiently,  this  is  ac- 
ceptable '  ?  " 

"  Did  you  hear  that  text  ?  "  whispered  Sa- 
5 


50  THE    NEW    SCHOOL. 

rah  Carter  ;  "  Alice  must  be  going  to  give  us 
a  sermon.  She  's  great  at  preaching,  I  dare 
say.  We  '11  watch  her  practice.  I  could 
make  her  so  mad  in  ten  minutes,  that  I  bet  she 
would  forget  all  her  religion." 

These  last  words  were  said  aloud,  on  pur- 
pose to  attract  the  attention  of  the  person  of 
whom  she  was  speaking  ;  and  Alice,  who  saw 
her  object,  was  determined  not  to  be  provoked. 
With  a  great  effort  she  commanded  her  rising 
spirit,  and  said,  in  a  calm  tone,  —  "  Don't  try 
my  temper,  Sarah,  for  it  is  a  very  bad  one,  and 
I  might  lose  it  in  less  than  the  time  you  men- 
tioned, which  I  should  be  very  sorry  to  do." 

Sarah  Carter  was  so  astonished  at  this  quiet 
admission  on  Alice's  part  of  her  own  irritability, 
that  she  had  nothing  more  to  say  ;  so  she  toss- 
ed up  her  marbles  in  her  hand,  and  changed 
the  subject  by  observing,  that,  if  they  did  not 
make  haste  and  finish  their  game,  they  would 
not  have  time  to  get  through  with  their  dinner 
before  school  commenced. 

When  the  little  Camerons  were  assembled 
after  tea  in  the  dining-room,  telling  Lizzie  the 
occurrences  of  the  day,  each  found  that  they 
had  not  strictly  kept  all  the  good  resolutions 
which  they  had  made  in  the  morning. 


THE    NEW    SCHOOL.  51 

Mary  remembered  with  pleasure  that  she 
had  consented  to  carry  the  old  dinner-basket, 
but  regretted  that  she  had  lost  her  temper  and 
said  many  things  in  an  unchristian  spirit. 

Margaret  saw  her  weakness  in  not  liking  to 
talk  to  little  Fanny  Martin ;  and  when  both  she 
and  Jennie  came  to  ask  themselves,  "  Whom 
have  we  made  happy  to-day  ?"  which  was  one 
of  the  questions  that  guided  them  in  the  work 
of  self-examination  proposed  by  Miss  Fenwick, 
they  were  forced  to  own  that  they  had  thought 
only  of  themselves. 

Alice  then  rejoiced  that  she  had  denied  her- 
self a  little  pleasure  for  the  sake  of  the  poor 
little  forsaken  Fanny,  and  resolved  to  carry  a 
needle  and  thread  to  school  the  next  day,  to 
mend  the  torn  apron,  if  it  should  again  appear. 
She,  however,  had  much  to  lament,  and  de- 
termined never  aga'n  to  tempt  her  sisters  to 
deceive  by  telling  them  in  their  recitations,  or 
to  feel  so  much  exalted  if  she  excelled  in  her 
own  studies.  "  I  must  encourage  Mary  more 
in  her  studies, "  she  thought,  "  and  not  forget 
that  humility  is  of  great  price  in  the  sight  of 
God,  and  it  is  he  that  hath  made  us  to  differ." 


CHAPTER  V. 


lizzie's  journey. 

What  a  commotion  there  is  to-day  at  Wal- 
nut Hill  ! 

Lizzie  is  opening  and  shutting  her  bureau- 
drawers  without  appearing  to  know  for  what 
she  is  seeking,  and  Jim  is  helping  Susan  to 
bring  down  a  large  trunk  from  the  garret, 
while  Becky  is  out  in  the  yard  hanging  out 
all  her  young  mistress's  nice  dresses,  which 
she  has  just  washed  with  special  care. 

"  Where  are  you  going,  Lizzie  ?  where  are 
you  going  ?"  exclaimed  Jennie,  quite  out  of 
breath,  for  she  had  run  half  the  way  from  the 
village,  where  she  had  met  one  of  the  servants, 
who  informed  her,  u  Miss  Lizzie  was  a  going 
to  leave  Ameriky." 

There  was  nothing,  however,  so  startling  as 


lizzie's  journey.  53 

this  about  to  take  place,  for  Lizzie  was  going 
no  farther  than  New  York  ;  but  the  servants, 
who  knew  very  little  about  geography,  thought 
that  New  York  was  too  far  off  to  be  reached 
without  crossing  the  "  big  water,"  as  they 
called  the  ocean. 

"  I  am  going  to  the  North,  with  Uncle 
James,"  Lizzie  answered,  in  quite  a  cool  tone, 
trying  to  appear  as  if  she  thought  it  only  an 
every-day  excursion.  It  was  queer  what  a 
dislike  she  had  to  appearing  ignorant  of  the 
world,  and  how  fond  she  was  of  astonishing 
her  sisters  with  her  calmness,  when  mentioning 
what  seemed  to  them  perfectly  wonderful. 

"  O,  let  me  go  with  you,  let  me  go,"  ex- 
claimed Jennie,  of  course. 

"Wait  till  Uncle  James  inv'tes  you,"  re- 
plied Lizzie,  with  great  dignity. 

Uncle  James  Cameron,  a  kind-hearted  old 
bachelor,  had  been  passing  a  week  at  Walnut 
Hill,  and  discovered  what  had  escaped  the  no- 
tice of  the  rest  of  the  family,  namely,  that 
his  oldest  niece  was  quite  out  of  health  and 
spirits. 

If  Lizzie  could  only  have  learned  a  little 
moderation,  she  might  have  been  perfectly  well 
5* 


54  lizzie's  journey. 

at  this  time  ;  but  she  was  always  tiring  herself 
by  doing  every  thing  in  just  half  the  time  that 
was  needed  for  its  execution.  Since  Miss 
Fenwick's  departure,  she  had  taken  every  kind 
of  duty  upon  herself,  and  had  made  great  ex- 
ertions for  the  good  of  the  family.  She  felt 
especial  pride  in  being  able  to  say,  that,  with 
Susan's  help,  she  had  done  nearly  all  the  sew- 
ing that  was  necessary  for  herself  and  the  child- 
ren. In  order  to  make  this  boast,  she  had 
been  constantly  occupied,  taking  very  little 
time  for  the  exercise  which  her  rapid  growth 
required.  The  consequence  of  this  impru- 
dence was,  that  her  chest  became  very  weak, 
and  she  was  attacked  with  an  incessant  pain  in 
her  side.  Her  indisposition  depressed  her 
spirits  ;  and  while  the  children  were  dl  gone 
to  school,  she  felt  so  lonely  and  miserable, 
that  she  would  often  come  out  with  the  wicked 
speech  which  always  seemed  so  near  her  lips, 
—  "I  wish  I  was  dead." 

Perhaps  it  was  because  Lizzie  remembered 
that  she  had  so  often  said  this,  that  she  was 
so  frightened  about  herself  now  ;  and  no  won- 
der ;  for  He  who  has  the  power  of  life  in  his 
hands  had  heard  her  wish,  and  might  be  about 


lizzie's  journey.  55 

to  punish  her  by  fulfilling  it.  She  certainly 
grew  worse,  and,  as  her  family  was  consump- 
tive, there  was  every  reason  to  fear  that  her 
illness  might  end  in  a  decline,  unless  speedily 
cured. 

But  Lizzie  did  not  tell  her  father  eitner  that 
she  was  not  well,  or  of  her  loneliness,*  for  she 
thought  to  herself,  —  "  Poor  man  !  He  has 
enough  of  trouble  already  ;  and  if  I  am  taken 
away,  he  will  only  have  one  less  to  provide 
for  and  to  cause  him  anxiety."  Major  Came- 
ron noticed  that  she  was  a  little  pale  ;  but  he 
had  settled  it  in  his  mind,  that,  because  his 
children  always  had  been  healthy,  they  would 
always  continue  so,  and  therefore  considered 
little  about  them. 

When  Mr.  James  Cameron  mentioned  his 
opinion  with  regard  to  Lizzie  to  her  father, 
and  remarked  how  lonely  and  wearing  such  a 
life  of  care  must  be  to  so  young  a  girl,  Major 
Cameron  was  aroused  to  a  sense  of  the  danger 
which  threatened  his  child,  and  eagerly  asked 
how  it  could  be  remedied.  As  soon  as  his 
brother  proposed  that  she  should  return  with 
him  to  New  York,  and  pay  her  Aunt  Mary 
Ludlow  a  visit,  the  offer  was  accepted  with 


56  lizzie's  journey. 

thankfulness,  and  Lizzie  was  immediately  told 
of  the  plan.  At  first  she  declared  that  it  was 
impossible  for  her  to  leave  home,  but  Major 
Cameron  would  listen  to  no  objections,  and 
Alice  willingly  promised  to  fill  her  sister's 
place  as  far  as  lay  in  her  power. 

It  was*  pleasant  to  see  with  what  readiness 
all  the  children  declared  that  they  would  be  as 
good  as  they  possibly  could,  if  Lizzie  would 
only  go  to  New  York  ;  and  the  moment  that 
she  commenced  her  preparations,  all  their  little 
hands  were  busy  in  assisting  her.  Each  one, 
too,  offered  what  they  considered  most  valu- 
able among  their  own  clothing  to  add  to  her 
wardrobe,  and  declared  that  they  should  have 
no  manner  of  use  for  it  until  she  returned. 

"  You  must  take  my  shawl,  which  was 
mother's,  for  it  is  prettier  than  yours,"  said 
Alice,  who  sat  upon  the  trunk  which  Jim 
and  Susan  had  placed  in  the  middle  of  the 
room,  sewing  some  lace  upon  a  pack  of  knit 
night-caps,  which  the  housekeeper  had  just 
sent  up,  with  a  variety  of  other  things,  from 
the  village. 

"  And  you  must  have  my  linen  cambric  ruf- 
fles,  which    I   have  never  worn,"   remarked 


57 


Mary  ;  "  and  do  give  me  some  work.  I  can't 
sew  up  seams  very  well,  but  I  can  hem  qute 
nicely.  Here,  Alice,  take  my  thimble,  for 
you  know  I  never  use  it." 

"  I  only  wish  you  could  wear  my  clothes, 
Lizzie,"  exclaimed  Margaret,  who  was  seated 
on  the  floor  by  the  bureau,  from  which  her  sis- 
ter was  taking  out  various  articles,  to  see  if  they 
needed  any  mending.  "  There,  let  me  darn 
those  stockings.  You  know  I  only  draw  up 
the  holes  a  very  little.  O,  I  have  just  thought 
of  something  nice  !  You  can  wear  the  ring 
Aunt  Margaret  gave  me,  on  your  little  finger." 

Before  Lizzie  had  time  to  decline  this  offer, 
Jennie  was  seen  flying  out  of  the  room,  and 
returning  in  triumph  with  a  small  box  which 
she  always  kept  hidden.  She  drew  forth  from 
it  the  blue  beads  to  which  she  was  so  fondly 
attached,  and,  displaying  them  with  great  glee, 
exclaimed,  "  You  shall  take  my  beads,  Lizzie, 
if  you  will  be  careful  and  not  break  the  string." 

The  children  all  burst  into  a  loud  laugh  at 
the  idea  of  their  sister's  appearing  in  New 
York  thus  ornamented  ;  at  which  Jennie  was 
so  wounded,  that  she  immediately  fell  to  weep- 
ing in  the  most  heart-broken  manner. 


58  lizzie's  journey. 

Mary  tried  to  soothe  the  poor  child  by  tell- 
ing her  that  such  large  girls  as  Lizzie  did  not 
look  pretty  in  beads,  no  matter  how  handsome 
they  were  ;  but  her  tears  were  not  dried  till 
her  sister  promised  to  bring  her  a  beautiful 
wax  doll,  which  should  open  and  shut  its  eyes, 
and  then  peace  was  restored. 

The  idea  that  Lizzy  was  really  ill  had 
driven  all  selfishness  from  the  hearts  of  the  lit- 
tle girls  ;  but  as  in  the  excitement  of  prepara- 
tion they  forgot  why  she  was  about  to  leave 
them,  less  generous  ideas  entered  into  their 
minds.  As  Alice  sat  working  diligently  at  her 
caps,  and  looking  at  the  many  new  things 
which  had  been  bought  for  her  sister,  she 
thought  how  much  care  would  soon  come  up- 
on her,  and  how  very  lonely  she  should  feel. 
She  had  neard  of  this  new  plan  just  as  she  was 
sitting  down  to  her  morning  reading  lesson, 
which,  as  it  was  Saturday,  had  been  deferred 
to  a  later  hour  than  usual ;  and  in  her  confusion 
her  Bible  was  hastily  closed  and  never  once 
thought  of  again,  so  that  her  devotions  were 
entirely  omitted. 

It  is  a  proof  of  the  weakness  of  our  nature, 
that  we  are  sure  to  do  wrong  if  we  omit  ask 


lizzie's  journey.  59 

lng  strength  from  on  high  for  a  single  day. 
Alice  began  to  feel  peevish  and  fretful,  and 
there  was  a  very  ugly  frown  settled  upon  her 
fair  countenance. 

"  O,  is  not  this  pink  muslin  beautiful  ?"  ex- 
claimed Lizzie,  as  she  held  up  one  of  the  new 
dresses  which  Major  Cameron  had  just  sent 
up  for  her  inspection.  u  I  only  wish  it  was 
made  up,  for  I  do  so  long  to  see  how  it  will 
look  on  me  ;  but  Uncle  James  says  that  he 
can  only  wait  until  Tuesday  for  me,  and  I 
must  have  a  dress-maker  when  I  get  to  New 
York.  I  will  write  all  the  new  fashions  to  you, 
Alice,  and  then  Miss  Penniman  can  make  your 
dresses  exactly  like  mine." 

"  Thank  you  !  there  is  no  need  of  your 
troubling  yourself,  for  I  shall  have  no  new 
things  to  make  up  ;  your  old  clothes  will,  I 
suppose,  be  good  enough  for  me,"  replied 
Alice,  with  the  look  and  tone  of  a  person  who 
was  suffering  some  great  injustice  patiently. 

u  Why,  what  ails  you,  Alice  ?"  asked  Liz- 
zie, in  surprise.  "  Are  you  not  glad  that  I 
am  going  ? " 

Before  Alice  could  reply,  Mitty  interrupted 
the  conversation  by  saying,  in  a  tone  of  re- 


60 


proof,  —  "  Are  you  not  ashamed,  Alice,  to  be 
mad  because  Lizzie  has  to  go  away  and  have 
a  few  new  things,  when  you  know  it  is  be- 
cause she  has  made  herself  sick  sewing  for  us  ? 
I  '11  tell  you  what  's  the  matter  with  her,  Liz- 
zie, if  you  '11  come  here."  As  Mary  whis- 
pered to  her  sister,  she  turned  a  very  indignant 
glance  at  Alice,  who  tried  to  put  on  an  ex- 
pression of  scornful  indifference. 

"  O,  she  can't  be  so  mean  !  "  exclaimed 
Lizzie. 

Mary  did  not  think  that  it  was  as  much  of  a 
sin  for  her  to  dwell  upon  the  error  of  her  sis- 
ter, and  provoke  her  by  whispering  about  it, 
as  it  was  to  encourage  such  envious  thoughts. 

Alice  was  all  ready  to  lose  her  temper ;  and 
when  Margaret  said,  —  "  I  know  what  Mary 
whispered  to  Lizzie  ;  —  she  said  that  Alice 
wanted  to  go  with  Uncle  James  too,  and  is  mad 
because  she  can't  have  so  many  pretty  things  ; 
—  I  should  think  she  would  be  ashamed,"  — 
the  evil  spirit  wTas  fully  roused,  and  Alice  ex- 
claimed passionately,  "  It  is  no  such  thing." 

She  thought  that  this  was  the  truth,  for  when 
people  are  angry  they  never  know  if  they  are 
saying  what  is  correct.     "  I  was  trying  to  do 


lizzie's  journey.  61 

all  I  could,"  she  added,  "  to  help  Lizzie  ;  but 
if  she  's  so  cross,  she  may  finish  her  old  night- 
caps herself.     I  wont  touch  them  again." 

So  saying,  she  threw  her  work  upon  the 
floor,  and,  leaving  the  room,  slammed  the  door 
after  her  in  a  most  improper  manner.  As  she 
flung  herself  into  a  chair,  her  eyes  happened  to 
fall  on  the  Bible  and  text-book,  upon  the  bu- 
reau opposite,  and  she  remembered  that  they 
had  not  been  used  that  morning.  She  was  too 
deeply  conscience-stricken  to  open  them  now, 
and  sat  for  some  time  indulging  in  wicked 
thoughts,  till  she  heard  her  sister  cough,  and 
then  she  remembered  that  she  was  ill. 

"  O,  if  Lizzie  should  die  ! "  she  said  to  her- 
self with  horror,  and  then  she  knew  how  sinful 
she  had  been. 

As  soon  as  she  was  convinced  of  her  own 
wickedness,  Alice  knelt  down  and  asked  God 
to  forgive  her,  and  then  she  took  her  Bible 
and  read  a  chapter.  One  of  the  first  verses  in 
it  was,  —  "  He  that  doeth  not  righteousness  is 
not  of  God,  neither  he  that  loveth  not  his 
brother ;  for  this  is  the  message  that  we  had 
from  the  beginning,  that  we  should  love  one 
another." 

6 


62  LIZZIE'S    JOURNEY. 

This  verse  Alice  put  down  in  her  text-book 
with  several  others,  under  the  head  of  "  Fam- 
ily A  flection, "  and  resolved  that  she  would 
show  her  love  to  God  more  by  acts  of  kind- 
ness to  those  whom  he  had  placed  immediately 
around  her.  She  was  so  high-spirited,  that  it 
was  a  great  trial  to  her  to  return  into  the  room 
where  her  sisters  were,  and  Mary  was  so 
thoughtless  as  to  cry  out,  when  she  entered, — 
"  Ally  looks  quite  meek  now.  She  has  got  a 
little  cooled  down."  But  this  was  no  more 
than  the  passionate  little  girl  deserved. 

"  Sister  Lizzie,"  she  said,  with  a  deep  blush, 
"  I  have  done  wrong.  If  you  will  give  me 
back  the  work  I  was  sewing,  I  should  be  hap- 
py to  finish  it." 

"  I  don't  wish  your  aid,"  replied  Lizzie, 
coldly  ;  "  I  can  do  it  myself,  though  my  side 
does  ache  so  badly." 

"  Please  let  me  have  it,  Lizzie,"  said  Alice, 
in  a  supplicating  tone  ;  "  you  know  we  must 
forgive  one  another  our  trespasses";  and  she 
kissed  her  sister  so  affectionately,  and  acknowl- 
edged her  fault  so  humbly,  that  Lizzie  was 
completely  overcome,  and  let  ber  do  as  she 
chose. 


LIZZIE'S    JOURNEr.  63 

The  rest  of  the  day  went  on  very  smoothly, 
and  by  the  next  Tuesday  every  thing  was  in 
readiness  for  the  departure  of  the  young  travel- 
ler. Although  she  expected  so  much  pleasure, 
Lizzie  could  not  leave  home  without  many 
tears  ;  and  it  was  amusing  to  h^ar  how  many 
cautions  she  gave  Alice,  and  what  wise  in- 
structions for  the  management  of  the  family. 

"I  am  sure  I  don't  know  how  I  shall  get 
along  without  you,  my  daughter,"  said  the 
Major,  "  for  I  find  you  are  at  the  bottom  of 
every  thing.  You  have  been  a  great  comfort 
to  me,  darling,  and  I  hope  that  God  will  bless 
you  and  restore  your  health.  Take  good  care 
of  her,  James." 

How  small  Alice  looked  at  the  head  of  the 
table  !  Yet  she  made  her  father's  coffee  very 
nicely,  and  sat  up  quite  straight.  The  little 
ones  could  not  help  smiling,  when  they  said, 
"  Please  excuse  me,  Alice,"  as  they  left  the 
table  to  look  over  their  lessons  ;  but  she  bore 
her  new  honors  with  great  dignity,  and  the 
noveltv  soon  wore  away. 


CHAPTER  VI 


LIZZIE'S    LETTER    FROM    NEW    YORK. 

A  letter  from  Lizzie  !  How  delightful ! 
It  was  so  lucky,  too,  that  all  the  children  had 
just  returned  from  school,  when  Major  Came- 
ron brought  it  from  the  post-office,  so  that  they 
were  all*  right  on  the  spot,  when  Alice  opened 
it.  She  did  not  even  stop  to  see  what  the 
seal  was,  but  commenced  immediately  reading 
it  aloud. 

"  New  York,  June  18,  1840 
C{  Dear  Father  and  Sisters  : 

"  I  have  so  much  to  say,  that  I  can  hardly 
wait  to  write  it  down.  Before  I  had  been 
gone  a  single  day,  I  had  enough  in  my  mind 
to  fill  a  whole  letter  ;  but  so  many  things  have 
happened  since,  that  all  that  is  driven  out  of 
my  brain,  and  I  scarcely  remember  now  any- 


lizzie's  letter  FROM  NEW  YORK.     65 

thing  about  my  journey,  excepting  that  we 
hurried  from  steamboats  to  cars,  and  were  de- 
tained a  night  on  the  road  by  some  accident 
happening  to  the  engine.  We  spent  two  days 
in  Philadelphia,  but  it  rained  all  the  time,  so 
that  I  did  not  go  out  of  the  house,  but  sat  in 
the  parlour  of  the  hotel  alone,  reading  a  book 
which  I  had  picked  up  on  the  table,  as  quietly 
as  if  I  were  at  home. 

u  It  was  Saturday  evening  when  we  arrived 
at  New  York,  and  I  was  so  tired,  that  I 
scarcely  noticed  anything,  except  how  beauti- 
fully the  shops  looked  by  gas-light,  and  how 
many  carriages  and  omnibuses  we  passed. 

"  The  next  morning,  however,  I  woke  fresh 
as  a  lark,  and  free  from  pain  in  my  side  or 
chest.  The  brick  walls  opposite  my  window 
did  not  look  quite  as  pretty  as  the  green  fields 
and  oak  woods  which  I  can  see  from  my  room 
at  home  ;  and  I  could  not  think  how  the  people 
ever  knew  when  the  sun  rose,  for  it  must  be 
mid-day  before  he  shows  his  face  above  those 
tall  houses. 

"  Aunt  Mary  came  into  my  room  before  I 
was  dressed,  and  seemed  just  as  she  used  to, 
and  very  much  like  father  and  Uncle  James. 
6  * 


66    lizzie's  letter  FROM  NEW  YORK. 

She  still  keeps  her  warm  Southern  manners, 
but  Mr.  Ludlow  is  so  quiet  and  so  cold,  that 
1  am  afraid  of  him.  He  has  two  children  near 
my  age,  for  you  know  he  was  a  widower  when 
Aunt  Mary  married  him,  and  at  first  I  did  not 
like  them  at  all.  Aunt  Mary  says  they  are 
very  glad  to  see  me  ;  but  they  called  me  Miss 
Elizabeth ;  and  when  I  opened  my  trunk,  Jane 
stood  looking  at  some  of  my  prettiest  things 
with  such  a  contemptuous  expression  that  I 
was  just  ready  to  cry.  When  she  saw  my 
new  dresses,  she  said  that  she  was  glad  that 
they  were  not  made  up,  for  they  would  not 
look  so  countrified  as  things  always  do  that 
come  from  anywhere  but  New  York. 

"When  I  came  down  dressed  for  church, 
she  told  me,  that,  if  she  were  in  my  place,  she 
would  not  go  out  till  my  dresses  were  made. 
I  had  on  my  best  white  frock,  which  you  know 
is  very  pretty,  excepting  that  it  is  a  little  short- 
waisted ;  and  I  was  vexed  at  her  manner. 

"  c  I  always  wear  this  at  home,'  I  replied  ; 
4  and  I  do  not  think  it  right  to  stay  from  church 
for  such  a  reason.' 

"  c  But  that  is  in  the  country,  where  any- 
thing will  do,'  said  Cousin  Jane  ;  '  but  it  is 


lizzie's  letter  FROM  NEW  YORK.     67 

quite  a  different  thing  here,  as  you  will  very 
soon  discover.' 

"  '  Do  you  not  go  here  to  worship  the  same 
God  ? '  I  asked,  in  quite  a  reproving  tone. 
1  If  so,  what  will  not  dishonor  his  house  in 
one  place  is  quite  suitable  for  it  in  another.' 

"  At  this  grave  speech,  Jane  looked  very 
queerly,  and  I  saw,  as  Cousin  Tom  turned  his 
head  towards  the  window,  that  he  wTas  laugh- 
ing. I  began  to  be  really  angry,  and  was  sure 
that  I  should  never  like  such  rude  people  ; 
but  now  I  see  that  they  meant  to  be  kind,  for 
they  knew  how  much  all  the  New-Yorkers 
thought  of  dress,  and  wanted  their  acquaint- 
ances to  think  well  of  me.  When  I  got  to 
church,  I  did  not  wonder  so  much  at  what 
Jane  had  said  ;  for  every  body  was  dressed  so 
much,  that  it  was  no  wonder  that  they  did  not 
kneel  down,  lest  they  should  soil  such  beautiful 
clothes.  I  tried  to  forget  where  I  was,  and 
join  in  the  prayers,  but  I  could  think  of  noth- 
ing proper  for  the  place.  Perhaps  the  reason 
was,  that  Aunt  Mary  came  into  my  room  in 
the  morning,  before  I  had  said  my  prayers, 
and  I  omitted  them,  because  I  did  not  like  to 
kneel  down  before  her,  and  did  not  ask,  as  we 


68     lizzie's  letter  FROM  NEW  YORK. 

always  do  on  Sunday  morning,  to  be  kept  from 
wandering  thoughts.  I  kept  thinking  how  I 
should  have  my  new  dresses  made,  and  look- 
ing to  see  which  of  the  fashions  I  liked  best  ; 
and  when  I  saw  that  nobody,  that  pretended  to 
be  anything,  wore  fixed-over  straw  bonnets  like 
mine,  I  thought  whether  father  could  afford  to 
give  me  a  new7  white  one,  such  as  Cousin  Jane 
and  the  other  girls  of  my  age  here  wear.  I  sup- 
pose that  is  the  reason  why,  when  I  put  mine 
on,  Jane  asked  me  if  it  was  my  best  bonnet, 
and  then  said  that  I  did  very  well  to  put  off 
getting  one  till  I  arrived  in  New  York,  for 
every  thing  is  so  much  prettier  and  cheaper 
here. 

u  When  we  came  home  from  church,  I  took 
out  my  little  Bible,  and  was  beginning  to  read, 
wThen  Cousin  Tom  called  to  me  to  come  to 
the  window  and  see  the  '  real  Bowery  cut.' 
And  so  I  hurried  there,  but  only  saw  some 
plainly  dressed  people.  By  and  by,  some  re- 
ally ridiculous  objects  passed,  and  I-  began  to 
laugh  too.  The  house  is  in  Broadway,  and  a 
constant  stream  of  people  went  up  and  down, 
and  so  many  queer-looking  ones,  that  we  got 
into  a  frolic  and  made  fun  of  every  body.     All 


lizzie's  letter  FROM  NEW  YORK.     69 

at  once  Tom  exclaimed,  in  the  midst  of  our 
sport,  —  '  Why,  Miss  Elizabeth,  we  thought 
that  you  were  quite  a  little  Methodist  this 
morning.  What  did  you  mean  by  making  that 
solemn  speech  about  going  to  church,  when 
you  are  as  full  of  the  old  one  as  any  of  us  ? ' 

"  This  remark  quite  sobered  me,  and  L 
thought  that  it  was  very  true  that  I  had  no  right 
to  blame  others  so  severely,  when  so  liable  to 
fall  into  error  myself.  Tom  saw  how  soberly 
I  looked,  but  he  only  laughed  again  and  said, 
—  c  You  need  not  trouble  yourself  to  put  on 
that  face,  for  we  see  very  well,  in  spite  of  it, 
what  a  witch  you  are.'  I  could  not  help  smil- 
ing at  his  funny  way,  and  concluded,  that,  when 
people  were  visiting,  there  was  no  use  in  their 
trying  to  spend  Sunday  properly,  for  they 
could  not  do  it,  and  therefore  would  not  be  to 
blame. 

"When  the  bells  rang  for  service  in  the 
afternoon,  Jane  said  that  she  was  too  tired  to 
go,  though  I  had  not  seen  anything  of  her  fa- 
tigue before  ;  and  Tom  went  out  to  take  a  ride, 
excusing  himself  by  remarking  that  he  was  so 
busy  with  school  every  other  day,  that  he  had 
no  time  for  exercise.    I  was  afraid  that  no  one 


70    lizzie's  letter  FROM  NEW  YORK. 

was  going  to  church,  and  I  did  not  want  t& 
stay  at  home,  for  there  was  so  much  to  be 
seen  there  ;  but  Uncle  James,  who  you  know 
is  really  a  good  man,  came  in  prepared  to  go, 
and  so  Aunt  Mary  concluded  to  accompany 
him.  All  the  afternoon  I  was  so  full  of  laugh- 
ter, that  I  could  scarcely  control  myself,  for  I 
saw  some  of  the  most  ridiculous-looking  peo- 
ple, and  could  not  help  thinking  of  some  of 
Cousin  Tom's  funny  speeches.  I  do  not  know 
that  I  could  have  tried  harder  to  be  serious 
when  there,  but  I  remembered  what  Miss 
Fenwick  so  often  said  about  going  to  church 
in  a  proper  frame  of  mind,  if  we  wished  to  be 
so  after  our  arrival  there. 

"When  we  were  coming  home,  who  should 
we  see  but  Miss  Fenwick  herself,  walking 
soberly  down  Broadway,  accompanied  by  an- 
other lady  ?  The  moment  that  I  sawT  her,  I  be- 
gan to  run,  forgetting  all  about  the  day  and  the 
place,  and  when  I  met  her  I  could  not  speak, 
but  burst  right  into  tears.  She  received  me 
with  a  great  deal  of  affection,  but  quieted  me 
in  her  usual  calm  way  ;  and  then  turning  to 
Aunt  Mary,  who  with  Uncle  James  had  just 
come  up  with  us,  she  said,  — c  Mrs.  Ludlow, 


lizzie's  letter  FROM  NEW  YORK.     71 

I  believe.  Will  you  allow  your  warm-hearted 
little  niece  to  go  home  with  me,  and  pass  the 
rest  of  the  day  ?  She  seems  almost  like  my 
own  child  ;  and  as  I  leave  town  to-morrow, 
I  shall  not  again  have  a  chance  of  seeing 
her.' 

u  i  Who  is  it  ? '  asked  Aunt  Mary  of  me, 
in  a  low  tone. 

"  '  Our  dear  Miss  Fenwick,'  I  replied,  so 
loud  that  I  am  sure  she  must  have  heard  me. 

u  c  Ah,  a  sister  of  William  Fenwick  ;  a  very 
proper  acquaintance,'  murmured  Aunt  Mary 
to  Uncle  James  ;  and  then  turning  to  her,  she 
very  politely  accepted  the  invitation  for  me. 
I  was  so  excited  at  the  meeting,  that  I  saw 
nothing  more  of  the  people  whom  we  passed 
in  going  down  Broadway,  and  could  scarcely 
give  a  connected  answer  to  Miss  Fenwick's 
various  inquiries.  To  relieve  me,  she  com- 
menced talking  to  the  lady  with  her,  whom  I 
found  to  be  Mrs  William  Fenwick,  her  sister- 
m-lavv.  We  stopped  at  a  beautiful  house  on 
the  Battery,  for  the  family  are  very  rich,  al- 
though 1  never  heard  Miss  Fenwick  say  any- 
thing about  it,  when  she  was  with  us.  As 
Boon  as  we  entered  the  drawing-room,  she  said 


72    lizzie's  letter  FROM  NEW  YORK. 

to  her  sister,  —  c  Excuse  me,  Louisa,  if  I 
take  my  little  guest  directly  to  my  room.  I 
should  not  have  violated  your  rule  against  Sun- 
day visiting,  if  I  had  not  known  that  you  would 
be  willing  to  make  an  exception  in  Lizzie's 
favor.' 

"  When  we  were  seated  alone,  I  could  al- 
most imagine  myself  at  home.  By  and  by,  M  iss 
Fenvvick  gave  the  conversation  a  serious  tone, 
by  asking  me  how  w7e  got  on  with  our  text- 
books. I  told  her  that  I  thought  that  Alice 
and  Mary  must  have  continued  them,  for  they 
had  improved  very  much,  and  had  always  some 
good  reason  from  Scripture  to  give,  for  every- 
thing they  did.  She  suspected  from  my  an- 
swer that  I  had  given  up  mine,  and  talked  so 
kindly  about  it,  that  I  made  up  my  mind  to 
begin  it  again,  as  soon  as  I  got  home.  I  told 
her  so,  but  she  asked  why  I  delayed  till  then. 
I  answered,  *  Because  it  was  impossible  for 
me  to  be  good  in  New  York.' 

"At  this  she  looked  ver)  serious,  and  said, 
— '  My  dear  Lizzie,  I  fear  you  will  never  do 
right,  if  you  wait  till  it  is  entirely  convenient. 
Wherever  you  are,  God  is  with  you  ;  and  he 
knows,  that,  if  your  first  wish  is  to  serve  hiro^ 


lizzie's  letter  FROM  NEW  YORK.     73 

>ou  will  find  the  means  of  doing  so.  There 
are  many  temptations,  it  is  true,  in  a  city, 
especially  to  a  stranger  ;  but  remember,  that, 
though  only  here  for  a  visit,  you  will  have  to 
give  an  account  for  every  day.  Many  persons 
seem  to  think,  that,  when  they  go  away  from 
home,  they  have  got  beyond  the  sphere  »f 
God's  government,  and  may  sin  with  impunity. 
Instead  of  neglecting  reading  and  prayer,  my 
dear  child,  you  should  rise  earlier  every  day, 
that  you  may  be  more  upon  your  guard  against 
the  temptations  that  beset  you.' 

"  It  seemed  so  like  old  times,  to  hear  Miss 
Fenwick  talking  to  me  thus,  that  I  could  not 
help  crying,  and  exclaimed  in  my  hasty  way, 
— '  I  wish  I  could  go  home  now,  and  take 
you  with  me,  and  then  I  am  sure  I  should  be 
better  than  I  have  ever  been.' 

"  l  Ah,  Lizzie  !'  she  replied,  shaking  her 
head,  '  I  shall  have  no  hope  of  you,  till  you 
resolve  to  do  right  in  your  present  place  and 
condition,  without  any  7/5  about  it.' 

"  We  were  so  engaged  in  talking,  that  it  did 

not   seem  an  hour  when  Mrs.   Fenwick  sent 

for  us  to  come  down  to  tea.     Her  children, 

though    dressed   very  prettily   and    extremely 

7 


74    lizzie's  letter  FROM  NEW  YORK. 

polished  in  their  manners,  were  perfectly  sim- 
ple and  unaffected.  I  began  to  perceive  that 
living  in  New  York  did  not  necessarily  make 
people  worldly,  or  think  of  nothing  but  dress. 
The  tea  had  been  ordered  early,  that  all  the 
family  might  go  to  a  children's  missionary 
meeting,  as  the  oldest  of  the  little  girls  be- 
longed to  the  society.  She  is  about  Alice's 
age,  and  looks  something  like  her.  Although 
so  much  younger  than  I  am,  I  could  not  help 
being  pleased  at  her  efforts  to  entertain  me, 
and  was  really  interested  in  some  anecdotes 
which  she  told  me,  of  the  good  which  had  been 
effected  by  the  Juvenile  Missionary  Society. 

"  I  did  not,  at  first,  wish  to  go  to  the  meet- 
ing, and  told  Miss  Fenwick  that  I  never  liked 
to  hear  about  the  heathen,  or  poor  people,  for 
it  always  made  me  feel  badly,  because  I  had 
nothing  of  my  own  to  give  away.  She  an- 
swered, that  the  prayers  of  the  young  were  al- 
ways acceptable,  and  if  their  interest  was  early 
excited  in  benevolent  objects,  they  were  likely 
to  use  more  profitably  the  means  which  should 
afterwards  be  placed  at  their  disposal. 

"  The  sermon  was  upon  the  same  subject, 
and  I  was  almost  persuaded  to  lay  up  all  my 


spending-money,  while  I  remain  in  New  York, 
to  give  to  the  mission  school  in  China.  How 
Alice  and  Mary  would  have  liked  to  have 
been  there  !  I  did  not  once  think  of  my  new 
dresses  or  my  shabby  bonnet,  and  Miss  Fen- 
wick  did  not  seem  to  see  but  that  I  wTas  per- 
fectly well  dressed.  She  had  on  herself  the 
same  lawn  dress  which  she  used  to  wear  so 
often  last  summer  to  the  village  church. 

"  But  here  I  am,  almost  at  the  end  of  my  let- 
ter, and  have  only  told  you  about  the  first  day 
that  I  spent  in  the  city,  and  here  it  is  Tues- 
day, just  a  week  since  I  left  home.  I  shall 
have  to  write  soon  again,'  for  I  was  so  inter- 
ested in  telling  about  Miss  Fenwick,  —  and  I 
knew  the  children  would  be  so  anxious  to  hear 
just  what  she  said,  —  that  I  forgot  how  much 
more  there  was  to  be  told.  Uncle  James  con- 
tinues exceedingly  kind,  and  so  are  all  my 
relations.  Aunt  Mary  says  that  she  cannot 
spare  me  for  these  two  months,  and  Mr.  Lud- 
low assures  me,  in  his  quiet  way,  that  he  con- 
siders me  quite  as  his  own  niece.  If  he  would 
only  take  off  those  si  ell-rimmed  spectacles, 
which  make  him  look  so  sharp,  and  smile  a 
little,  he  would  be  very  pleasant  after  all. 


76    lizzie's  letter  from  new  FORK. 

ce  Jane  is  waiting  for  me  to  go  to  the  mu- 
seum, and  then  to  have  my  pink  dress  tried  on. 
By  the  way,  the  mantua-maker  wanted  two 
more  yards  of  it,  but  by  good  luck  I  matched 
it,  or  she  would  not  have  touched  the  dress. 

u  Alice  must  write  me  a  long  letter,  and  tell 
me  all  about  father,  for  I  know  how  he  hates 
letter-writing  himself.  I  miss  Susan  constant- 
ly, and  find  that  I  am  quite  helpless  compared 
with  Jane,  from  having  had  so  many  always  to 
wait  upon  me  ;  still,  she  knows  nothing  about 
sewing,  and  prides  herself  upon  her  ignorance. 
I  think  she  would  be  happier,  if  she  was  more 
fond  of  her  needle ;  for  now  she  spends  a  great 
deal  of  time  in  looking  out  of  the  window,  till 
she  gets  listless  and  tired  of  all  the  world. 

"  Remember  me  to  everybody,  by  no  means 
forgetting  the  black  people.  I  dare  say  I  shall 
long  very  often  to  be  at  home,  for  it  seems  as 
if  you  wTere  all  so  good  and  quiet  there.  I 
laughed  out  loud,  the  other  night,  after  I  was  in 
bed,  thinking  what  Jane  would  have  said  to 
have  seen  me  with  dear  little  Jennie's  blue 
beads  round  my  neck.  I  think  the  very  sight 
of  them  would  have  killed  her. 

"  Alice  must  try  and  make  father  comfort- 


LIZZIE'S  LETTER  FROM  NEW  YORK.      77 

able ;  and  see  if  those  preserves  that  I  made 
have  enough  sugar  in  them  to  keep  them.  I 
could  write  for  ever,  but  here  I  am  at  the  end 
of  my  paper,  though  I  have  crossed  it  so  that  it 
is  scarcely  legible.  Miss  Fenwick  is  going  to 
write  to  the  children  herself,  but  sent  her  love, 
as  do  all  Aunt  Mary's  family;  while  I  remain, 
dear  father  and  sisters,  though  absent, 
"  Your  ever  affectionate 

64  Lizzie. 
u  P.  S.  I  forgot  that  you  would  be  anxious 
to  know  about  my  health.  I  am  apparently 
well,  and  cough  but  little.  I  am  only  troubled 
with  my  feet,  which  are  blistered  from  walking 
about  the  city  in  tight  shoes.  A  little  rest 
will  soon  cure  them,  but  I  don't  know  how 
to  stop." 


7* 


CHAPTER  VII 


GHOST    STORIES. 

While  Lizzie  was  at  home,  Margaret  and 
Jennie  had  always  slept  in  her  room  ;  but  after 
she  was  gone,  they  removed  to  a  chamber  in 
the  attic,  next  to  that  occupied  by  Susan,  the 
nurse.  Major  Cameron  had  a  little  bed-rqom 
upon  the  lower  floor,  that  he  might  protect  the 
house  more  effectually  ;  so  Alice  and  Mary 
were  left  quite  alone  in  the  second  story. 
They  did  not  mind  this,  however,  for  their 
mother  had  early  taken  care  to  free  them  from 
all  silly  fears,  and  would  never  allow  them  to 
be  frightened  by  the  ridiculous  stories  which 
the  ignorant  black  children  were  so  fond  of 
telling  them.  But  though  not  afraid  of  any 
harm,  Alice  often  felt  lonely  when  she  awToke 
in  the  night  and  thought  that  Lizzie  was  far 
away. 


GHOST    STORIES.  79 

One  night,  in  particular,  our  little  friend  was 
vrry  restless,  and  could  scarcely  banish  the 
mournful  reflections  that  forced  themselves  up- 
on her  mind  ;  and  the  wind,  which  whistled 
around  the  house  very  loudly  on  account  of 
its  elevated  situation,  filled  her  with  sadness. 
She  whispered  to  Mary  softly,  to  see  if  she 
was  awake  ;  but  finding  that  she  slept  soundly, 
resolved  not  to  be  so  selfish  as  to  disturb  her. 
"  I  will  repeat  some  hymns,"  she  said  to  her- 
self, and  commenced  her  favorite  :  — 

"  0  Thou,  to  whose  all-searching  sight 
The  darkness  shineth  as  the  light, 
Search,  prove  my  heart,  it  looks  to  thee  ! 
O,  burst  its  bonds  and  set  it  free  !  " 

Jt  is  singular  how  easily,  in  the  silence  of 
the  night,  we  can  remember  words  which  we 
were  scarcely  conscious  before  that  we  knew. 
Alice  found  that  she  could  repeat  a  great  many 
more  hymns  than  she  supposed  when  she  be- 
gan, and  then  she  tried  to  remember  the  ninety- 
first  Psalm.  It  is  a  very  sweet  one,  and  she 
commenced  feeling  a  delightful  sense  of  God's 
protecting  presence,  as  she  said  to  herself,  — 

"He  shall  cover  thee  with  his  feathers,  and  under 
his  wings  shalt  thou  trust. 


80  GHOST    STORIES. 

"  Thou  shalt  not  be  afraid  for  the  terror  by  night, 
nor  for  the  arrow  thit  flieth  by  day; 

"  Nor  for  the  pestilence  that  walketh  in  darkness, 
nor  for  the  destruction  that  vvasteth  at  noonday." 

No  children  can  repeat  this  sweet  Psalm  and 
understand  it,  without  feeling  sure,  that,  if  they 
love  God,  he  will  keep  them  from  all  harm, 
and  that  they  have  nothing  else  to  dread  in  this 
world,  but  the  sins  which  offend  their  Almighty 
Creator.  Alice  loved  to  think  of  the  goodness 
of  God,  and  exclaimed  now,  — 

"  If  thou  art  my  shield  and  my  sun, 
The  nig-ht  is  no  darkness  to  me, 
And  fast  as  my  moments  roll  on, 

They  but  bring-  me  the  nearer  to  thee." 

There  are  some  persons  who  do  not  con- 
sider the  thought  contained  in  the  last  line  of 
this  pretty  verse  a  pleasant  one,  for  they  do 
not  wish  to  be  reminded  that  every  moment 
of  time  brings  them  closer  to  another  world 
and  to  their  Heavenly  Father.  But  Alice 
hoped  that  this  great  Being  was  her  friend  and 
had  forgiven  all  her  sins  for  Christ's  sake,  so 
she  longed  for  the  time  to  come  when  she 
could  see  him  face  to  face.  Often,  in  praying 
to  him,  and  thinking  of  the  joy  which  he  was 


GHOST    STORIES  81 

preparing  for  his  children  when  thpy  should  be 
with  him  and  free  from  sin  and  temptation,  she 
forgot  all  about  this  world  and  seemed  to  catch 
a  glimpse  of  heaven.  She  could  say  the  last 
chapters  of  Revelation  by  heart,  and  she  was 
very  fond  of  them,  because  they  gave  her  a 
description  of  the  place  in  which  she  hoped 
that  her  departed  mother  now  was,  and  where 
she  expected  one  day'to  meet  her  again.  If 
troubled,  she  was  soothed  by  the  thought  that 
"  there  shall  be  no  more  sorrow  or  pain";  if 
she  wept,  she  remembered  that  God  would 
"  there  wipe  away  all  tears";  and  when  the 
night  filled  her  heart  with  solemnity,  she  re- 
called the  promise  that  "  there  should  be  no 
night  there,  and  they  need  no  candle,  neither 
the  light  of  the  sun,  for  the  Lord  God  giveth 
them  light." 

If  Alice  could  always  have  kept  in  her  mind 
these  blessed  promises  and  refrained  from  sin, 
she  would  have  found  a  heaven  upon  earth  ; 
but,  alas  *  such  seasons  of  peace  were  only 
given  her  to  cheer  her  on  in  the  warfare  with 
her  own  evil  heart. 

While  indulging  in  these  sweet  thoughts, 
Alice  was  startled  by  a  scream  which  seemed 


82  GHOST    STORIES. 

to  proceed  from  the  apartment  occupied  by 
the  younger  children.  Without  thinking  for  a 
moment  whether  there  could  be  any  danger 
to  herself,  she  jumped  up  hastily  and  felt  her 
way  in  the  dark  to  the  foot  of  the  stairs.  The 
screaming  continued  constant  while  she  as- 
cended, until  she  stepped  upon  a  spool  of  cot- 
ton, which  rolled  under  her  foot  and  came 
near  throwing  her  down  the  whole  flight  of 
stairs.  By  catching  hold  of  the  railing  she 
saved  herself,  but  in  doing  so  came  down  up- 
on her  foot  in  so  awkward  a  position,  that  her 
ancle  was  turned,  and  she  found  it  almost  im- 
possible to  rise.  But  she  thought  only  of  her 
sisters,  and,  without  calling  for  assistance,  man- 
aged with  extreme  difficulty  to  stand,  and  hop- 
ping upon  one  foot  reached  the  children's 
room. 

"  Who  is  it  ?  who  is  it  ?  "  shrieked  Jennie, 
in  a  wild  manner,  as  she  heard  her  sister's 
irregular  step. 

"No  one  but  me,  your  sister  Alice,"  she 
replied.  "  Has  anything  hurt  you,  darling  ? 
are  you  sick  ?    what  makes  you  scream  so  ?" 

"  Oj  I  am  so  frightened  !  "  whispered  Jen- 
nie, between  her  sobs,  as  Alice  sat  down  upon 


GHOST    STORIES.  83 

the  bed  beside  her  ;  "  there  has  been  a  ghost 
in  the  room  ;  there  !  there  !  I  see  it  now  !  " 
and  again  she  hid  her  face  under  the  bed-quilt, 
uttering  terrible  shrieks. 

u  Tell  me  where  it  is,  and  let  me  see  what 
has  alarmed  you,"  said  Alice,  calmly. 

"  There  !  there  !  in  the  corner  by  the  clos- 
et," she  answered,  without  uncovering  her 
head. 

Although  Alice  could  not  move  without 
great  pain,  she  hobbled  across  the  room  to  the 
spot  pointed  out,  and  discovered  a  white  dress 
hanging  against  the  wall,  which  the  moonlight 
had  made  visible. 

"  Why,  Jennie  !  are  you  so  afraid  of  Liz- 
zie's old  dress  ? "  she  asked,  laughing  in  spite 
of  the  agony  which  she  was  suffering.  "  There 
are  no  such  things  as  ghosts  ;  and  if  there  were, 
why  should  you  be  afraid  of  them  ?  Nothing 
can  hurt  you  without  God's  permission  ;  and 
if  you  pray  to  him,  he  will  always  take  care  of 
you." 

"  Yes,  there  are  ghosts,"  said  Jennie,  some- 
what encouraged  by  this  discovery,  so  that  she 
dared  to  peep  from  under  the  bed-quilt ; 
"  James  saw  one  all  in  white,  with  eyes  like 


84  GHOLT    STORIES. 

fire,  and  Dick  saw  one  just  before  he  died. 
Nobody  lives  long  after  they  have  seen  a 
ghost. " 

"  What  foolish  ideas  !  But  if  that  were 
the  truth,  Jennie,  what  reason  is  there  for  be- 
ing so  frightened  ?  We  must  all  die,  some  time 
or  other  ;  and  if  God  chooses  to  call  us  away 
when  we  are  young,  it  may  be  because  he  sees 
that  we  should  become  bad,  if  he  were  to  leave 
us  to  grow  up.  To  die  is  only  to  go  where 
we  can  see  Christ,  and  be  always  happy  and 
holy.  Ask  him  now  to  quiet  your  mind,  and 
then  go  to  sleep,  and  his  angels  will  be  around 
you  till  morning." 

"  But  you  must  stay  with  me,  —  don't  go," 
— exclaimed  Jennie,  catching  hold  of  her  sister, 
and  beginning  to  scream  again.  Margaret,  who 
had  slept  very  soundly,  from  some  paregoric 
which  she  had  taken  to  quiet  a  violent  tooth- 
ache, now  awoke  and  asked  what  was  the  mat- 
ter. Alice  told  her  quietly  that  Jennie  had 
got  a  little  frightened,  and  she  soon  fell  fast 
asleep  again. 

"  Now  I  must  go  down,  Jennie,  for  my  foot 
pains  me  so  badly  that  I  can  scarcely  move. 
I  am  no  protection  to  you,  because  anything 


GHOST    STORIES.  85 

that  would  hurt  you  could  injure  me  quite  as 
easily. " 

As  Alice  said  this  she  tried  to  rise,  but 
found  it  impossible.  "  Jennie,  you  must  go 
and  call  Susan  to  cany  me  down,"  she  said, 
quite  faint  from  the  effort  that  she  had  made  to 
stand. 

"  Susan  is  away,  Alice,  and  that  is  the  rea- 
son why  I  was  so  frightened.  Perhaps  it  wTont 
hurt  you  so  much,  if  you  sit  still  a  little  longer," 
replied  Jennie. 

"  Then  I  fear  you  will  have  to  go  and  call 
father  up,"  said  Alice  ;  "  take  fast  hold  of  the 
baluster,  and  then  you  will  not  fall." 

u  O,  I  dare  not  !  I  could  not  to  save  my 
life,  Alice,  stir  a  step  in  the  dark  "  ;  and  Jen- 
nie began  to  cry  at  the  thought. 

Alice  was  just  going  to  wake  Margaret, 
when  she  saw  that  her  little  flushed  cheek  was 
badly  swollen  with  the  toothache,  from  which 
she  had  been  suffering,  and  which  would  prob- 
ably come  on  again,  if  she  should  get  up  and 
go  down  stairs.  The  generous  sister  thought 
that  it  would  be  better  for  her  to  bear  pain 
herself,  than  to  run  the  chance  of  giving  it  to 
another  ;  so  she  gave  up  all  idea  of  disturbing 
.    8 


86  GHOST    STORIES. 

Margaret,  and  resolved  to  make  one  more  ef 
fort  to  move  Jennie. 

"  Now,  my  child,  listen  to  me,"  she  said  , 
"  there  is  no  possibility  of  there  being  any  one 
in  the  house,  as  the  dog  is  at  the  door,  and 
they  must  pass  by  father  to  come  to  us.  If 
jrou  go  down  and  call  him,  something  may  be 
done  for  me  to-night,  so  that  I  may  soon  use 
my  foot  again  ;  but  if  it  is  left  till  to-morrow, 
it  will  probably  be  so  swelled,  that  I  shall  not 
be  able  to  step  upon  it  for  weeks.  It  was  in 
coming  to  your  assistance  that  it  was  sprained, 
and  you  will  feel  very  sorry  if  it  is  worse,  be- 
cause you  did  not  try  and  conquer  your  fears. 
I  shall  hear  you,  if  you  make  the  slightest 
noise,  and  it  will  only  be  half  a  minute  before 
you  are  in  father's  room." 

No  persuasions,  however,  could  induce  Jen- 
nie to  go,  though  she  was  very  sorry  for  her 
sister,  but  she  kept  repeating, —  u  I  am  so 
frightened,  that  I  could  not  "f  I  was  to  die  for 
it." 

Poor  Alice  gave  up  the  attempt  in  despair, 
and  lay  down  beside  Jennie,  where  she  re- 
mained till  morning,  trying  not  to  groan,  but 
she  was  in  such  distress  that  it  was  almost  im- 


GHOST    STORIES.  87 

possible  to  help  it.  She  had  not  closed  her 
eyes  since  the  accident  happened,  when  Susan 
came  into  the  room  in  the  morning  and  was 
much  surprised  at  finding  her  there.  The 
faithful  nurse  was  distressed  at  her  sad  con- 
dition, and  taking  her  up  in  her  arms  carried 
her  dowm  to  her  own  bed,  and  called  Major 
Cameron  to  see  her  swollen  ankle.  He  sent 
immediately  for  the  doctor,  and  blamed  Jennie 
very  severely  for  not  having  called  him  in  the 
night.  Alice  interceded  in  her  behalf,  and 
")ld  him  that  it  was  not  so  much  her  fault  as 
iiat  of  the  servants,  who  had  filled  her  mind 
with  the  silly  superstitions,  which,  if  her  mother 
had  been  living,  she  would  never  have  heard. 

Margaret,  when  questioned  about  the  stories 
which  Jennie  said  that  black  Jim  had  told 
them,  gave  an  account  of  the  manner  in  which 
the  evening  previous  had  been  spent,  and  Alice 
no  longer  wondered  that  the  little  timid  girl 
had  allowed  herself  to  become  so  frightened 
while  lying  awake  alone  in  the  night,  when  she 
remembered  her  own  gloomy  feelings,  at  first, 
in  listening  to  the  sighing  of  the  wind. 

Major  Cameron,  the  night  before,  had 
brought   home   an    amusing    story,    which   he 


88  GHOST    STORIES. 

wished  Alice  and  Mary  by  turns  to  read  aloud 
to  him,  as  much  for  their  own  improvement  as 
for  his  pleasure.  While  they  were  thus  em- 
ployed, Margaret  and  Jennie  had  been  up 
stairs,  helping  Susan  to  piece  her  quilt,  and 
telling  her  all  about  their  school  and  one  of  the 
girls,  with  whose  bad  behaviour  they  were 
quite  disgusted.  It  w7as  fortunate  that  Susan 
was  such  a  prudent  servant,  or  she  might  have 
made  a  world  of  mischief,  for  the  children  did 
not  always  remember,  that  "  he  who  repeateth 
a  matter  separateth  very  friends  " ;  and  their 
strong  imaginations  often  made  them  give  such 
descriptions  of  things  that  daily  happened,  as 
bordered  upon  untruth.  They  did  not  mean 
to  say  anything  which  was  not  strictly  correct, 
but  they  were  too  apt  to  give  their  own  ideas 
as  to  what  they  were  telling,  or  about  the  mo- 
tives of  others,  and  this  is  always  a  bad  habit. 

About  eight  o'clock,  Susan  put  up  her 
pieces,  and  told  the  children  that  she  had  her 
master's  permission  to  go  and  sit  up  with  Mrs. 
Franklin's  Sally,  a  black  woman'who  lived 
near  them  and  had  been  very  ill. 

Before  leaving  them,  she  gave  Margaret 
some  paregoric  for  her  tooth,  which  had  com- 


GHOST    STORIES.  89 

menced  aching  badly,  and  stopped  at  the  kitch- 
en to  make  a  mustard  plaster  to  put  on  her 
face,  which  she  sent  up  to  her  by  little  black 
Jim,  of  whom  all  the  children  wTere  very  fond. 
Margaret  and  Jennie  now  begged  him  to  stay 
a  little  while,  for  they  had  been  telling  each 
other  foolish  stories  which  they  had  heard  at 
school,  until  they  were  almost  afraid  of  the 
sound  of  their  own  voices.  Jim,  who  saw  how 
frightened  they  were,  liked  to  add  to  his  own 
consequence  by  increasing  their  fears,  and  re- 
plied to  Jennie's  entreaties,  —  "O,  I  dares 
not,  Missie.     Don't  you  hear  that  sound  ?  " 

"  What,  what  ?  "  asked  Jennie,  drawing 
nearer  to  him. 

"  Why,  coming  down  the  chimney,"  he  re- 
plied, shrugging  his  shoulders  and  looking  to- 
wards the  fireplace  with  a  very  timid  air. 

"  O,  that  's  only  the  wind,"  answered  Mar- 
garet, in  quite  a  brave  tone. 

"  I  does  not  mean  that,  Miss  Meggy.  Does 
you  hear  that  moaning  up  there,  something 
like  old  Tray's  yell,  when  he  died  ?  " 

"  O,  yes  !  it  is  awful  !  "  said   Jennie  and 
Margaret,  in  a  breath  ;  "  what  makes  it  ?  " 
8* 


90  GHOST    STORIES. 

"  I  dares  n't  Tell  ;  I  's  feared  you  '11  tell 
Mass  Frank  on  me  " 

"  O,  no  !  we  wont,"  said  the  little  girls, — 
their  eyes  wide  open  with  eager  expectation. 

"  Then  say, '  Indeed  and  double,'  and  clench 
hands." 

"  We  must  not,"  replied  Margaret  ;  "  for 
Miss  Fenwick  told  us  it  would  lead  to  swear- 
ing, and  nobody  would  believe  us  with  it  who 
would  not  without  it." 

"  Then  I  can't  tell  you,"  said  Jim,  sullen- 
ly, pretending  that  he  was  going  to  leave  the 
room. 

"  I  '11  say  it,  Jim,  I  '11  say  it,"  cried  Jen- 
nie, in  great  distress. 

"  Well,  then,  Missy,"  began  Jim,  crouch- 
ing down  on  the  floor  in  his  own  peculiar  man- 
ner ;  u  them  bowlings  is  the  cries  of  folks  what 
have  come  to  their  death  by  violence.  They 
always  lives  around  the  places  where  they  was 
murdered." 

11  But  surely  nobody  has  been  killed  here," 
almost  shrieked  the  children. 

"  I  don't  know,"  replied  Jim,  shaking  his 
head  very  mysteriously  ;  "  there  is  a  man 
buried  in  the  field  opposite,  and  there  never 


GHOST    STORIES.  91 

has  no  grass  grown  on  his  grave  ;  and  that  's 
the  way  they  says  it  always  does,  when  a  man 
has  been  murdered." 

"  O,  I  shall  never  dare  to  look  that  way 
again  !  "  exclaimed  Jennie.  "  Did  you  ever 
go  that  way  in  the  night  ?  " 

u  Once,  and  I  shall  never  dare  go  again," 
said  Jim,  showing  all  his  teeth  in  a  ghastly 
grin. 

"  What  did  you  see  ?  "  asked  Jennie,  dread- 
ing yet  longing  for  the  answer. 

"  You  remember,  if  you  tell  after  you  have 
clenched  hands,  the  Old  One  will  have  you, 
Missie,"  said  Jim,  soberly. 

"  Yes,  yes  !  "  said  Jennie,  impatiently. 

"Well,  then,  I  seen  a  ghost,  with  eyes  of 
fire,  a  dancing  right  on  the  grave,  and  it  kept 
a  screaming  out,  c  Come  and  jine  me  !  come 
and  jine  me  !  '  and  I  never  have  been  wTell 
since." 

It  is  no  wonder  that  Major  Cameron  was 
very  much  displeased,  when  he  heard  these 
ridiculous  stories.  He  was  for  whipping  Jim 
immediately  for  telling  such  falsehoods,  till 
Mary  reminded  him  that  the  boy  perhaps  did 
not  know  any  better  himself,  and  had  only  been 


92  GHOST    STORIES. 

trying  to  amuse  the  children  in  the  best  way 
that  he  knew,  by  repeating  what  some  of  the 
other  servants  might  have  made  him  believe. 

The  Major  then  requested  Alice  not  to  for- 
get, in  teaching  the  little  black  children,  to 
show  them  the  folly  and  wickedness  cf  such 
notions  ;  and  she  promised  to  do  all  in  her 
power  to  teach  them  to  fear  nothing  but  the 
great  Creator,  and  the  sins  which  would  offend 
him. 

When  the  physician  arrived,  he  pronounced 
the  sprain  a  very  bad  one  ;  but  Alice  did  not 
murmur,  when  he  said  that  it  was  probable  that 
she  would  be  obliged  to  give  up  going  to  school 
for  several  weeks. 

Her  pleasant  thoughts  during  the  night  had 
prepared  the  little  sufferer  to  bear  her  misfor- 
tune patiently,  and  she  had  already  learned  to 
rely  upon  the  promise  of  her  Heavenly  Father, 
that  "  all  -should  work  together  for  good  to 
those  who  love  him." 


CHAPTER  VIII 


OLDER    SISTERS. 

"  I  shall  get  all  fours  to-day,  in  my  be- 
haviour book,"  said  Mary  Cameron,  in  a  very 
decided  tone,  as  she  walked  towards  school 
with  her  sisters  on  Monday  morning. 

Ah  !  Mary  has  forgotten  that  "  he  who 
thinketh  he  standeth  must  take  heed  lest  he 
fall." 

u  I  shall  try  not  to  get  any  threes  this  week, 
too,"  said  Margaret,  in  a  more  modest  tone. 

cc  I  don't  care  how  many  I  get,"  said  Jen- 
nie, tossing  up  her  bonnet  in  the  air,  instead 
of  keeping  it  upon  her  head.  u  If  I  can  only 
have  a  nice  play-time  at  noon,  I  don't  mind 
much  what  happens  in  school." 

Mary  seemed,  for  the  first  two  hours  after 
school  commenced,  in  a  fair  way  to  have  noth- 


94  OLDER    SISTERS. 

ing  but  the  highest  number  upon  her  book  ;  for 
she  recited  her  geography  lesson  perfectly,  and 
did  not  miss  one  word  in  her  spelling.  Her 
writing,  too,  looked  uncommonly  well,  and  she 
was  just  finishing  the  last  line,  when  Sarah 
Carter  asked  Mr.  Johnson  if  she  might  go  out 
in  the  porch  to  wash  her  slate,  and,  as  she  did 
so,  beckoned  to  Mary  to  make  some  excuse  to 
follow  her.  In  her  hurry  to  get  through  her 
writing,  Mary  filled  her  pen  too  full  of  ink',  and 
a  great  blot  was  the  consequence.  She  tried 
in  vain  to  rub  it  out,  for  she  was  too  impatient 
to  get  a  penknife,  and  the  little  wet  paper  with 
which  she  tried  to  remove  it  only  made  a 
larger  spot  around  the  first.  She  was  in  de- 
spair, but  happening  to  remember  how  she 
had  seen  some  of  the  girls  manage  to  hide 
blots  when  they  handed  their  books  to  the 
teacher,  and  as  this  one  was  on  the  corner  of 
the  page,  she  tried  their  plan  of  holding  it  up 
to  Mr.  Johnson  with  her  thumb  over  the  unfor- 
tunate place.  He  was  quite  busy  in  correcting 
a  composition,  and,  looking  at  it  only  a  mo- 
ment, said,  "  O,  very  neat  !  That  page  cer- 
tainly deserves  four." 

Mary  returned  to  her  desk,  delighted  with 


OLDER    SISTERS.  95 

the  success  of  her  plan,  for  she  did  not  think 
that  the  deception  which  she  had  just  practised 
had  been  written  down  above,  and  would  one 
day  be  brought  out  against  her  by  Him  in 
whose  pure  sight  an  acted  untruth  is  as  sinful 
as  if  it  were  spoken  out  in  the  plainest  words. 
If  she  had  remembered  that  his  all-seeing  eye 
was  upon  her,  she  would  not  have  asked,  as 
she  did  a  moment  afterwards,  to  be  allowed  to 
go  and  get  a  block  to  put  under  her  desk  to 
prevent  it  from  moving  ;  for,  although  it  was 
unsteady,  this  was  only  an  excuse  to  join  her 
companion  in  the  porch. 

As  soon  as  Mary  appeared,  Sarah,  who  had 
been  impatiently  waiting  for  her  with  her  hands 
filled  with  toys,  which  she  exhibited  with  great 
glee,  said,  —  "I  have  brought  all  my  doll 
things  in  my  dinner-basket,  besides  these  which 
I  kept  in  my  pocket." 

"  So  have  I,"  said  Mary  ;  "  and  we  can 
have  a  nice  baby-house  together,  can't  we  ?  " 

"  Yes  !  "  answered  Sarah  ;  "  and  all  the 
rest  of  the  girls  have  their  playthings  too,  and 
we  are  going  to  fix  the  school-room  this  noon 
like  a  village,  with  the  desks  in  two  rows 
through  it,  for  a  street,  and  each  one  of  them  is 


96  OLDER    SISTERS. 

to  be  a  house  ;  and  you  and  I  will  keep  ours 
together." 

"  How  delightful  !  "  exclaimed  Mary  ;  "  but 
then  Jennie  and  Margaret  will  be  coming  to  it, 
and  they  always  put  every  thing  out  of  order." 

"  No,  indeed  !  they  must  not,"  replied  Sa- 
rah, in  a  very  dictatorial  tone ;  u  the  little  girls 
always  play  in  the  yard  at  noon,  and  we  are 
going  to  keep  them  all  out  there  to-day. 
Hark  !    I  hear  Mr.  Johnson  coming  ! 

At  the  approach  of  her  teacher,  Sarah  thrust 
all  her  playthings  into  her  pocket,  and  com- 
menced washing  her  slate  ;  while  Mary  search- 
ed for  a  block,  which  she  soon  found,  and  car- 
rying it  into  the  school,  she  seemed  very  much 
in  earnest  in  making  her  desk  stand  even.  She 
was,  however,  so  much  occupied  in  thinking 
of  the  play-spell  at  noon,  that,  when  she  sat 
down  to  write  her  composition,  she  hurried 
over  it,  without  thinking  whether  the  words 
were  spelt  correctly,  and  was  very  impatient  to 
have  it  looked  over. 

"  Mary  Cameron,"  said  Mr.  Johnson,  as 
he  finished  reading  the  ill-written  sentences, 
u  you  can  have  only  two  marks  for  this  com- 
position.    It  is   very  poorly  composed,   and 


OLDER    SISTERS.  97 

you  have  spelt  any  twice  e-n-n-y,  and  I  told 
you  that  I  should  mark  you  for  that  mistake, 
if  you  ever  made  it  again." 

Mary  took  back  her  slate  in  a  very  passion- 
ate manner,  and  returned  to  her  seat,  where 
she  sat  for  some  moments  doing  nothing,  till 
Mr.  Johnson  noticed  her  idleness  and  said, 
quiie  sternly,  —  "  Mary,  you  have  wasted 
nearly  a  quarter  of  an  hour,  and  had  better  do 
something  quickly,  or  you  will  have  a  cipher 
for  Attention,  for  you  have  already  lost  one 
mark  for  it." 

At  this  information,  Mary  was  very  angry 
and  burst  into  tears,  which  was  the  worst 
thing  she  could  do,  as  thereby  she  lost  another 
mark  for  Deportment,  and  unfitted  herself  for 
the  rest  of  her  studies.  When  school  was  out, 
she  had  missed  two  more  lessons,  from  being 
so  much  out  of  temper  ;  and  was  in  such 
wretched  ill-humor,  that  she  even  refused  to 
join  in  the  play  which  she  had  anticipated  with 
so  much  pleasure.  When,  however,  she  saw 
all  the  other  girls  arranging  their  baby-houses, 
her  sad  feelings  were  in  part  dispelled,  and 
she  assisted  Sarah  Carter  in  arranging  theirs. 

"  Come,  Eliza  Carter,"  said  Jennie  to  Sa- 
9 


98  OLDER    SISTERS. 

rah's  younger  sister,  who  was  atjout  her  age ; 
"  let  us  look  at  Mary  and  Sarah's  baby -house, 
for  I  suppose  it  will  be  ours  too.  Is  not  this 
a  pretty  little  thing  for  their  bed-room  ?  "  she 
asked,  as  she  took  up  a  little  bureau  of  painted 
pasteboard,  which  was  the  pride  of  Mary's 
heart. 

"  Let  that  alone,  wont  you  ?  "  said  Mary, 
in  a  cross  tone. 

"  You  can  touch  this  table,  for  it  is  Sarah's," 
remarked  Eliza  Carter,  as  she  handed  out  a 
little  wooden  table  from  the  desk  to  her  com- 
panion. 

"  No  she  can't  either,"  said  Sarah,  in  an 
equally  cross  tone  with  that  which  Mary  had 
just  used.  "  You  always  stay  on  the  play- 
ground at  noon,  and  you  would  be  there  now, 
if  you  did  not  think  that  you  must  be  hanging 
around  to  see  what  we  big  girls  are  about. 
Out  of  the  school-room,  every  one  of  you  !  " 

"lam  not  going  to  mind  you  !  "  said  Jen- 
nie, looking  very  resolute  and  very  ugly. 

"  But  you  must  me,"  said  Mary ;  "for  you 
know  father  says  tjiat  he  shall  punish  you  and 
Margaret,  if  you  don't  do  all  that  I  tell  you, 
while  Alice  has  to  stay  away  from  school  ; 
and  I  say  you  must  not  stay  here." 


OLDER    SISTERS.  99 

Major  Cameron  had  really  told  the  younger 
children  to  mind  Mary  while  they  were  away 
from  home,  so  they  did  not  now  dare  to  dis- 
obey her,  but  walked  sullenly  towards  the  door. 

Eliza  Carter  still  remained  by  the  desk,  in- 
specting its  contents,  till  Sarah  twitched  a  doll, 
which  she  wras  looking  at,  out  of  her  hand,  and 
said,  —  "If  you  don't  go  this  moment  with 
Jennie  out  of  the  room,  I  '11  put  you  out." 

"  But  mother  would  not  like  to  have  me 
stand  on  the  ground  with  my  sore  throat  to- 
day, for  you  know  there  has  been  a  shower, 
and  my  shoes  are  thin,"  answered  Eliza. 

She  did  not,  indeed,  look  well,  for  she  was 
very  thin  and  pale,  and  her  throat  was  bound 
round  with  a  flannel.  Mary  began  to  feel  sorry 
for  her,  and  to  see  very  plainly,  in  Sarah's 
case,  how  wrong  it  was  for  her  to  be  so  un- 
kind to  her  little  sister,  though  she  had  not 
thought  of  it  in  her  own,  when  she  sent  Mar- 
garet and  Jennie  away. 

"  O,  let  Eliza  stay,"  she  said  in  a  pleas- 
anter  tone  ;  "  for  she  wont  do  any  hurt.  She 
is  not  troublesome,  as  my  sisters  are." 

"  But  then  they  '11  think  that  they  ought  to 
be  here  too,  if  Eliza  stays,"  replied  Sarah  ; 


100  OLDER    SISTERS. 

"and  it  wont  hurt  her  to  play  out  this  warm 
day.  Run  away,  and  I  '11  give  you  some- 
thing that  you  will  like,"  she  added,  not  ex- 
actly liking  to  execute  her  threat  of  putting  her 
sister  out  by  force. 

Eliza  was  more  easily  coaxed  than  scolded 
into  obedience,  and,  though  somewhat  reluct- 
antly, followed  the  little  Camerons  to  the  play- 
ground, where  they  stood  for  some  time  look- 
ing wistfully  in  at  the  windows,  until  they  oc- 
cupied themselves  in  trying  to  find  some  way 
of  fixing  a  baby-house  out-doors,  after  the  plan 
which  the  older  girls  were  carrying  on  in  the 
school-room.  The  ground  was  very  damp, 
and  Eliza  coughed  several  times  during  the 
afternoon  ;  but  Sarah  thought  it  was  only  to 
frighten  her,  and  looked  at  Mary  and  laughed 
contemptuously,  every  time  that  she  did  it. 

When  the  school  closed,  Mary  Cameron 
found  that  she  had  a  worse  report  than  she  had 
ever  had  before,  and  w7as  heartily  ashamed 
when  she  remembered  the  boast  which  she  had 
made  upon  her  way  to  school  in  the  morning. 
There  was  some  truth  in  the  remark  which 
Margaret  made  when  they  were  going  home  ; 
but  she  should  not  have  made  it  then,  for  it 
only  provoked  her  sister. 


OLDER    SISTERS.  101 

"Do  you  know,  Mary,"  she  asked,  "  the 
reason  that  you  have  lost  so  many  marks  to- 
day ?  Don't  you  remember  that  Miss  Fen- 
wick  always  told  us,  l  a  bad  Sabbath  would 
make  a  bad  week '  ?  You  played  a  great  deal 
yesterday,  and  when  you  came  down  late  to 
breakfast  this  morning,  I  could  not  help  think- 
ing of  it." 

Margaret  found  it  rather  easier  to  detect  the 
causes  of  her  sister's  errors  than  to  cure  her 
own.  She  had,  however,  succeeded  very  well 
in  her  studies,  from  diffidence  of  herself,  which 
placed  her  upon  her  guard,  and  had  lately  con- 
quered some  of  her  worst  habits.  We  cannot 
expect  children  to  get  over  faults  all  at  once, 
which  many  do  not  cure  during  a  long  life  ; 
and  a  want  of  charity  for  others  is  one  of  those 
which  even  the  old  find  it  hard  to  overcome. 

But  have  you  forgotten,  all  this  while,  that 
Alice  sprained  her  foot  ?  She,  poor  child  ! 
has  had  reason  enough  to  remember  it  ;  for 
although  it  is  nearly  a  month  since  it  hap- 
pened, she  has  not  yet  been  able  to  walk 
across  her  room.  It  seems  almost  a  year 
since  she  went  to  school,  although  the  children 
told   her  all   that   happened   every  day,   and 


102  OLDER    SISTERS. 

many  of  her  schoolmates  had  been  to  see  her 
Fanny  Martin  was  the  very  first  that  called 
after  the  accident,  for  she  had  a  grateful  heart, 
and,  owing  to  the  good  example  which  Alice 
set,  the  girls  treated  her  much  more  kindly. 
Alice  was  glad  to  see  them  all,  but  sometimes 
her  confinement  was  tiresome  ;  and  when  Ma- 
ry brought  fresh  flowers  to  place  on  her  bu- 
reau, she  longed  to  see  them  once  more  upon 
their  stems,  especially  Lizzie's  roses  and  jes- 
samine, which  she  had  promised  to  watch  dur- 
ing her  absence.  Sometimes,  too,  when  her 
foot  gave  her  pain,  she  would  be  quite  irrita- 
ble, and  then  Mary  would  remark,  —  "  You 
used  to  say  that  you  could  be  good  if  you 
were  alone,  but  I  don't  see  that  you  grow  any 
better  by  being  so  much  by  yourself,  and  read- 
ing the  Bible  so  many  hours  every  day." 

Mary  had  never  been  confined  to  her  room 
for  long  weeks,  and  did  not  know  how  hard  it 
is  to  preserve  a  kind  and  cheerful  spirit,  when 
suffering  from  weakness  and  pain. 

If  Alice  had  complained  more,  all  the  fam- 
ily would  have  pitied  her  ;  but  she  was  so  pa- 
tient, and  made  so  light  of  her  misfortune,  that 
they  forgot  how  serious  a  one  it  really  was. 


OLDER    SISTERS.  103 

All  the  children,  it  is  true,  missed  her  at 
school,  where  she  had  been  their  pride  ;  and 
sometimes  in  the  morning,  when  Mary  had 
placed  the  cushions  under  her  foot  and  put 
every  thing  she  would  want  on  the  little  table 
beside  her,  the  tears  would  come  into  her  dark 
eyes,  as  she  kissed  her,  saying,  "  Dear  Alice, 
I  do  indeed  wish  you  were  well  enough  to  go 
with  us." 

But  when  the  children  were  away,  they  had 
little  time  to  think  of  their  suffering  sister  ;  and 
Major  Cameron  himself,  after  he  had  seen  that 
Alice  was  made  comfortable  for  the  day,  went 
about  his  business  without  thinking  how  she 
employed  the  time  of  his  absence.  He  was 
surprised,  one  day,  on  returning  home  at  an 
earlier  hour  than  usual,  to  find  his  daughter  with 
her  head  resting  upon  her  hands  in  an  attitude 
of  deep  dejection. 

"  What  ails  you,  Ally  ?  "  he  asked  affec- 
tionately. u  Have  you  the  headache,  or  does 
your  foot  pain  you  ?  " 

"  No,  father  ;  I  am  only  a  little  weak  to- 
day," she  replied,  without  raising  her  head  ; 
but  the  sound  of  her  voice  showed  that  she 
had  been  weeping. 


104  OLDER    SISTERS. 

"  My  poor  child  !  "  said  Major  Cameron, 
sorrowfully,  as  he  raised  her  head  and  kissed 
her  affectionately  ;  "  you  have  been  sad  and 
lonely,  and  I  have  never  thought  of  it  before. 
Forgive  me,  my  daughter,  for  being  so  incon- 
siderate, for  I  scarcely  deserve  the  name  of  a 
father." 

Alice  could  not  bear  to  see  her  father  un- 
happy, and  therefore  attempted  to  reply  cheer- 
fully, —  "  O,  I  am  not  often  so  very  lonely, 
for  Susan  sits  with  me  all  the  time  that  she 
can  spare,  and  I  have  had  plenty  of  good 
books  to  read,  so  that  much  of  my  time  has 
passed  very  pleasantly.  My  eyes  have  not 
been  weak  till  the  last  few  days,  and  I  have 
been  able  still  to  repeat  over  a  great  many 
hymns  and  verses  to  myself,  so  I  have  no  rea- 
son to  complain." 

Major  Cameron  loved  his  daughter  for  this 
effort  to  make  the  best  of  her  solitary  condi- 
tion, but  he  saw,  nevertheless,  how  much  she 
needed  occupation  and  amusements.  "  One 
of  your  sisters  must  stay  at  home  with  you," 
he  said,  "till  you  are  better,  to  read  to  you 
and  prevent  you  from  taxing  your  eyes  so  con- 
stantly.    Which  would  you  prefer  ?  " 


OLDER    SISTERS.  105 

"  O,  that  would  not  be  at  all  worth  while," 
exclaimed  Alice.  u  They  are  so  fond  of  go- 
ing to  school,  that  it  would  be  a  pity  to  keep 
them  at  home  for  me.  I  am  very  sorry  that 
I  was  so  silly  as  to  give  way  to  my  feelings, 
but  1  will  try  for  the  future  to  have  more  pa- 
tience and  self-command." 

Major  Cameron,  however,  would  not  listen 
to  Alice's  urgent  request,  that  her  sisters  might 
not  any  of  them  be  kept  at  home  on  her  ac- 
count, but  asked  if  she  would  not  prefer  Mary. 

"  O,  no  !  "  she  said  ;  "for  the  little  ones 
could  not  do  as  well  without  her.  If  one  must 
stay,  let  it  be  Jennie,  for  I  might  hear  her  les- 
sons, and  then  she  would  not  lose  as  much 
from  being  absent  from  school." 

"  That  will  be  a  good  plan,"  said  the  Ma- 
jor, who  thought  that  the  occupation  of  teach- 
ing her  sister  might  amuse  Alice.  "  On  the 
whole,  I  am  glad  to  have  some  excuse  for  re- 
moving Jennie,  for  she  is  getting  quite  rude 
from  being  at  a  public  school,  and  you  always 
have  a  happy  influence  over  her." 

This  arrangement  being  made,  Alice  found 
ample  occupation  for  the  rest  of  the  day  in  de- 
vising plans  for  the  instruction  of  her  pupil. 


106  OLDER    SISTERS. 

She  made  up  her  mind  to  go  on  as  regularly 
as  if  there  were  a  whole  school,  and  was  really- 
impatient  to  look  over  her  lessons,  that  she 
might  explain  them  with  more  ease.  The  first 
thing  that  she  did  was  to  fold  up  some  paper 
for  a  behaviour-book,  and  rule  it  for  several 
weeks  ;  and  then  her  father  wrote  down  the 
different  studies  that  Jennie  would  pursue,  and 
the  days  of  the  week.  This  was  hardly  com- 
pleted before  the  children  returned  from  school. 
Mary  came  home  somewhat  out  of  humor 
from  her  unfortunate  day  at  school,  but  Jennie 
and  Margaret  were  quite  lively.  When  Alice 
informed  her  little  sister  that  she  was  to  re- 
main at  home,  she  began  to  object  very  strong- 
ly to  the  arrangement  ;  but  the  moment  that 
Alice  said,  in  a  sorrowful  tone, — "It  is  fa- 
ther's plan,  not  mine,  Jennie  ;  I  should  never 
have  wished  you  to  stay  at  home  for  my  com- 
fort," her  warm  heart  was  touched,  and  she 
threw  her  arms  around  Alice's  neck,  saying, 
—  "  I  did  not  mean  to  be  cross  about  it,  Ally, 
for  I  am  sure  I  shall  be  happier  at  home  with 
you  than  at  school.  Mary  and  the  big  girls 
wont  let  me  play  with  them,  but  here  I  can  do 
just  as  I  choose." 


OLDER    SISTERS.  107 

Jennie  then  entered  into  a  recital  of  the 
grievances  of  the  day,  to  which  Alice  listened 
very  attentively  till  the  bell  for  tea  put  an  end 
to  the  conversation. 


CHAPTER   IX. 


POOR    LITTLE    ELIZA    CARTER. 

The  next  morning  two  seats  were  empty  in 
Mr.  Johnson's  school,  one  of  which  had  been 
occupied  by  Eliza  Carter,  and  the  other  by 
Jennie  Cameron.  Sarah  Carter  informed  her 
teacher  that  her  little  sister  was  not  well 
enough  to  venture  out  ;  but  she  told  Mary 
Cameron,  in  confidence,  that  she  did  not  be- 
lieve there  was  anything  the  matter  with  Eliza, 
only  she  had  persuaded  her  mother  to  let  her 
stay  at  home,  by  talking  so  much  about  her 
sore  throat.  A  few  days  afterwards,  however, 
Sarah  came  to  school  with  her  eyes  very  much 
swollen,  as  if  she  had  been  crying  all  night ; 
and  then  she  informed  the  girls  that  Eliza  had 
the  scarlet  fever,  and  the  physician  thought  it 
was  doubtful  whether  she  would  ever  get  well. 


POOR   LITTLE    ELIZA    CARTER.         109 

The  children  were  of  course  all  struck  with 
horror  at  this  news,  but  still  none  of  them  could 
realize  that  it  was  possible  for  Eliza  to  die. 
They  knew  that  children  were  sometimes  taken 
away,  and  they  had  heard  it  said  that  some 
whom  they  had  seen  were  now  dead  ;  but  they 
could  not  believe  it  possible  for  one  from 
among  themselves,  who  was  a  few  days  before 
so  full  of  life,  to  be  carried  to  the  silent  grave. 
Even  when  told  that  Eliza  was  worse,  they  con- 
tinued to  talk  about  what  they  should  do  when 
she  was  well  ;  and  were  as  much  shocked 
when  at  last  the  tidings  came  that  she  was 
dead,  as  if  they  had  never  even  known  of  her 
being  sick. 

The  whole  of  Mr.  Johnson's  school  attend- 
ed Eliza  Carter's  funeral,  dressed  in  white,  with 
black  ribands  upon  their  arms  ;  and  there  were 
many  wet  eyes,  as  they  went  up,  one  by  one, 
to  take  a  last  look  of  the  little  pale  face  in  the 
narrow  coffin.  Neither  could  any  of  them  keep 
from  weeping  at  the  grave,  when  they  heard 
poor  Sarah's  sobs,  for  it  seemed  as  if  her  heart 
was  broken.  Even  after  the  last  prayer  was 
said,  she  could  not  be  persuaded  to  leave  the 
spot ;  and  when  some  one  said  that  the  ground 
10 


110         POOR    LITTLE    ELIZA    CARTER. 

was  too.  damp  for  her  to  remain  longer  upon  it, 
she  almost  shrieked  out,  —  "  So  it  was  damp 
when  I  made  Eliza  stay  out  upon  it.  I  put 
her  in  the  grave  by  my  unkindness,  and  now  1 
want  to  lie  down  beside  her." 

Mr.  Carter  was  obliged  at  last  to  take  the 
poor  girl  up  in  his  arms  and  place  her  in  the 
carriage,  from  which  she  was  lifted  out  and 
carried  into  the  house  almost  insensible. 

It  was  no  wonder,  if,  after  seeing  such  a 
distressing  scene,  the  girls  at  Mr.  Johnson's 
school  were  not  as  lively  as  usual.  For  many 
days,  instead  of  playing  together  at  noon,  they 
would  assemble  in  little  groups,  and  talk  about 
Eliza,  and  wonder  where  she  now  was.  None 
of  the  children  could  remember  ever  having 
heard  her  speak  of  dying,  or  of  another  world  ; 
and  now  it  seemed  strange  that  nothing  had 
been  said  of  it  before,  and  they  thought  it  im- 
possible that  they  should  ever  forget  how  sud- 
denly they  too  might  be  taken  out  of  this  life. 

Mary  Cameron  and  her  little  sisters  were 
made  even  more  serious  than  the  rest  by  this 
sad  event,  for  they  had  been  taught  what  a 
fearful  thing  it  is  to  go  out  of  this  world  with- 
out being  prepared  for  heaven,  and  they  could 


POOR    LITTLE    ELIZA    CARTER.  Ill 

not  help  asking  themselves  if  their  example 
and  conversation  had  been  such  as  to  fit  their 
little  companion  for  eternal  happiness.  Jennie 
remembered  that  she  had  encouraged  Eliza 
in  speaking  unkindly  of  her  sister  on  the  day 
when  Sarah  would  not  permit  her  to  remain 
in  the  school-room  ;  and  Margaret  could  not 
forget  touching  her  foot  to  prevent  her  from 
telling  Mr.  Johnson  about  something  that  she 
had  done,  thus  leading  her  to  deceive  their  kind 
teacher. 

When  Alice  heard,  some  weeks  after  this 
melancholy  event,  that  Sarah  Carter  remained 
in  very  poor  health,  and  was  so  miserable  that 
nothing  could  cheer  her,  she  regretted  much 
that  her  foot  still  continued  too  lame  to  pay 
her  a  visit.  She  begged  Mary  and  Margaret 
to  go  and  see  if  they  could  not  do  her  some 
good,  and  carry  her  a  bouquet  of  their  prettiest 
flowers,  which  she  used  to  admire. 

"  O,  I  can't,  indeed,"  said  Mary,  at  first ; 
"  she  feels  so  badly,  and  the  house  will  remind 
me  so  of  the  day  that  we  went  there  to  poor 
Eliza's  funeral,  that  I  am  sure  that  I  shall  do 
nothing  but  cry." 

"  Never  mind  that,"  replied  Alice  ;  "  you 


J 12         POOR    LITTLE    ELIZA    CARTER. 

will  only  be  fulfilling  the  command,  to  weep 
with  those  that  weep  ;  and  it  is  sometimes  very- 
good  for  us  to  see  suffering,  that  we  may  be 
thankful  for  our  own  blessings.  I  have  thought 
sometimes  that  it  was  hard  for  me  to  be  shut 
up  here  ;  but  when  I  think  now  how  much 
worse  it  would  be  to  lose  one  of  my  sisters,  I 
feel  that  I  have  no  right  to  complain." 

"Can't  you  go  alone,  Mary  ?  "  asked  Mar- 
garet ;  u  I  am  so  much  younger  than  Sarah, 
that  she  wont  want  to  see  me,  and  I  can't  beai 
to  go  where  people  feel  badly." 

"  O,  let  me  go,"  said  Jennie,  who  scarcely 
thought  where  her  sisters  were  going,  from  the 
habit  of  always  begging  to  accompany  them 
the  moment  that  they  stirred  from  home.  As 
Margaret  was  very  quick  to  feel,  it  did  seem 
a  pity  to  take  her  where  she  would  be  too 
much  affected  to  give  any  consolation,  and  so 
Mary,  for  the  sake  of  company,  granted  Jen- 
nie's request,  on  condition  that  she  should 
behave  herself,  and  be  very  sober. 

It  was  Saturday  afternoon  when  Mary  and 
Jennie  rang  at  Mr.  Carter's  door,  and  were 
shown  up  stairs  into  the  little  bed-room  which 
the   sisters  used   to    occupy  together.     Mrs. 


POOR    LITTLE    ELIZA    CARTER.  113 

Carter  was  still  ill  from  the  fatigue  and  sorrow 
which  she  had  undergone,  and  her  husband 
was  absent  on  necessary  business,  so  that  Sa- 
rah felt  doubly  sad.  She  looked  very  miser- 
able, and  was  occupied  in  putting  away,  in 
one  of  the  bureau-drawers,  all  the  playthings 
which  had  belonged  to  Eliza.  The  moment 
that  she  saw  Mary  and  Jennie  Cameron,  she 
burst  into  tears,  and  continued  weeping  so  bit- 
terly, that  the  children  did  not  know  what  to 
say  to  her. 

At  length  Mary  put  her  arm  around  the 
neck  of  the  little  mourner,  and  whispered  in  a 
faltering  voice,  —  "Don't  cry,  Sarah,  for  per- 
haps Eliza  is  in  heaven.  Alice  says  that  she 
has  heard,  that,  while  she  was  sick,  she  asked 
if  God  would  forgive  little  girls  wrho  had  never 
thought  anything  about  him  ;  and  all  the  while 
she  did  not  speak,  she  might  have  been  pre 
paring  to  die." 

"  O,  it  is  not  that,  it  is  not  that  that  troubles 
me,"  replied  Sarah,  sobbing  bitterly.  "  Don't 
you  remember  how  I  made  her  stand  out- 
doors the  last  day  she  went  to  school,  and  how 
cross  I  was  to  her  ?" 

"  But  you  did  not  think,"  said  Mary,  sooth- 
10* 


114         POOR    LITTLE    ELIZA    CARTER. 

ingly,  6C  that  it  would  hurt  her,  and  you  know 
that  her  throat  was  sore  before,  so  that  she 
would  probably  have  had  the  scarlet  fever  at 
any  rate." 

"  Perhaps  so,"  replied  Sarah,  sadly  ;  "but 
I  would  give  the  world  if  I  had  never  spoken 
so  cross  to  her.  I  remember  now  every  un- 
kind word  that  I  ever  said,  and  you  cannot 
think  how  wretchedly  it  makes  me  feel." 

Mary  did  not  wonder  that  such  remembran- 
ces should  make  her  friend  miserable,  and, 
after  trying  in  vain  to  comfort  her,  she  began 
to  cry  too.  Jennie,  who  always  liked  to  do 
as  her  sisters  did,  looked  at  them  for  a  moment 
with  wondering,  tearful  eyes,  and  then  burst 
into  such  a  fit  of  sympathetic  weeping,  that 
Mary  could  with  difficulty  put  a  stop  to  her 
noisy  sorrow. 

After  leaving  Mr.  Carter's,  the  children 
walked  some  distance  upon  their  way  home 
without  uttering  a  single  word,  till  at  length 
Mary  said,  very  soberly,  —  "  I  am  sorry,  Jen- 
nie, that  I  made  you  go  out  of  the  school- 
room that  day  when  we  were  fixing  our  baby- 
houses,  I  have  been  thinking  how  often  I  have 
been  unkind  to  my  sisters,  and  how  wretchedly 


POOR    LITTLE    ELIZA    CARTER.  115' 

it  would  make  me  feel  if  one  of  them  were  to 
die,  like  poor  Eliza.  I  hope  I  shall  do  better 
for  the  future." 

Mary  had  truly  profited  by  her  visit,  if  she 
had  learned  that  we  ought  always  to  live  as  if 
we  were  one  day  ourselves  to  die,  and  to  treat 
others  as  if  they  were  liable  soon  to  be  taken 
from  us. 

Margaret  was  sitting  with  Alice  when  her 
sisters  returned,  in  her  little  chamber,  which 
she  was  not  yet  able  to  leave,  although  her 
foot  was  so  much  better,  that  she  could  walk 
across  the  room  without  pain.  Both  of  the 
little  girls  saw  from  Mary's  countenance  that 
she  had  had  a  very  sad  visit,  and  asked  her  to 
tell  them  all  about  it.  Alice  could  not  hear 
without  tears  of  the  mournful  condition  of  her 
former  schoolmate,  and  how  bitterly  she  re- 
proached herself  for  her  treatment  of  her  sis- 
ter ;  and  the  same  thought  came  into  her  mind 
which  had  weighed  so  heavily  upon  Mary. 

"  While  we  live,"  said  Mary,  as  she  fin- 
ished her  sad  story,  "  do  let  us  try  and  act 
more  as  if  we  loved  one  another.  I  have  re- 
solved never  again  to  say  an  unkind  word  to 
one  of  my  sisters." 


116         POOR    LITTLE    ELIZA    CARTER. 

Alice  had  made  the  same  resolution  in  her 
own  heart,  but  she  had  become  so  convinced 
of  her  weakness,  that  she  had  lost  the  self- 
reliance  which  formerly  had  made  her  so  liable 
to  err.  She  now  said,  humbly,  —  "I  will  try, 
too,  to  be  more  patient  with  you  all  ;  but  you 
must  bear  with  me,  if  I  forget  my  resolution. 
I  fear  we  shall  all  be  apt  to  break  it,  unless 
we  ask  strength  from  God.  Let  us  each  of 
us  remember  in  our  prayers  to-night  to  beg 
that  he  will  grant  us  the  spirit  of  peace,  and 
make  us  c  take  heed  to  our  ways,  that  we 
offend  not  with  our  tongues.'  " 

Although  the  conversation  had  been  a  very 
sad  one,  the  children  felt  more  happy  after 
making  this  resolution  than  they  had  done  for 
a  great  many  nights,  as  they  sat  in  the  twilight 
listening  to  a  story,  which  Alice  told  them  she 
had  read  that  day,  of  a  very  bad-tempered 
child,  who  by  self-control  became  so  amiable 
that  every  body  loved  her. 

When  Major  Cameron  came  up  to  see  his 
little  daughter,  she  had  not  yet  finished  the 
narrative,  so  he  told  her  to  go  on,  while  he 
himself  took  up  a  newspaper.  He  did  not 
read,  however,  but  listened  to  the  kind,  way  in 


POOR   LITTLE    ELIZA    CARTER.         117 

which  Alice  was  instructing  her  sisters,  and 
felt  thankful  to  the  providence  of  God  which 
was  guiding  his  children  onward  in  that  path 
of  peace  which  he  had  not  yet  sought  to  enter. 

When  the  story  was  finished,  and  they  be- 
gan to  talk  about  Lizzie,  he  dronped  his  paper, 
and,  taking  Jennie  upon  his  knee,  joined  in 
the  conversation. 

They  all  wondered  why  they  had  not  heard 
lately  from  her  ;  but  they  were  not  over-anx- 
ious about  her  welfare,  for  Alice  had  taught 
them  that  it  was  a  duty  not  to  be  afraid  of 
evil  tidings,  and  they  were  naturally  too  full 
of  hope  to  stand  much  in  need  of  this  good 
counsel. 

That  night  the  little  girls  kissed  each  other 
with  more  affection  than  they  had  ever  done 
before,  and  not  one  of  them  forgot  to  pray 
that  they  might  live  more  as  the  children  of 
the  same  Heavenly  Father.  This  petition  was 
made  in  sincerity  and  truth,  and  with  a  firm 
belief  that  God  would  be  more  willing  to 
grant  than  they  to  ask  such  a  blessing.  Their 
faith  was  not  vain,  for  the  spirit  of  love  and 
peace  descended  into  all  their  hearts. 


CHAPTER  X 


A  few  days  only  had  elapsed  since  the 
events  recorded  in  the  last  chapter,  when  Ma- 
jor Cameron  came  home  with  the  welcome  in- 
telligence, that  he  had  received  a  letter  from 
Lizzie,  containing  the  joyful  tidings  of  her 
speedy  return.  He  also  insinuated  that  there 
was  some  other  very  good  news,  which  he 
would  not  tell  them  till  they  had  all  guessed 
what  it  was  to  be. 

"  I  know  !  "  exclaimed  Jennie  ;  "it  is  that 
Lizzie  has  bought  the  wax  doll  that  she  prom- 
ised me." 

cc  What  an  idea  !  "  said  Mary,  rather  con- 
temptuously, for  the  moment  either  forgetting 
her  good  resolutions,  or  not  knowing  that  her 
manner  was  unkind.    "  Father  means  that  it  is 


lizzie's  return  home.  119 

something  that  will  please  us  all  ;  I  guess  it  is 
that  Lizzie  has  regained  her  health." 

"  Is  that  all  ?  "  said  Margaret,  in  a  tone  of 
disappointment. 

"  That  is  true,"  replied  the  Major,  srniling; 
but  he  still  held  the  letter  closed  in  his  hands, 
as  he  said,  "  One  more  guess,  and  then  I  will 
tell  you." 

Alice,  who  had  come  down  stairs  that  morn- 
ing for  the  first  time  since-  her  fall,  and  was 
lying  on  the  sofa  to  rest  after  the  exertion, 
now  started  up,  and,  clasping  her  hands,  eager- 
ly exclaimed,  — u  Can  it  be  ?  Miss  Fenwick ! 
Can  it  be  that  she  is  coming  back  ?  " 

u  Ah  !  your  little  warm  heart  is  the  prophet, 
after  all,  my  darling,"  replied  Major  Cameron, 
with  a  smile  that  made  Alice  sure  that  she  was 
correct  ;  "  here,  take  the  letter  and  read  it  to 
your  sisters,  as  you  have  come  nearest  to  the 
truth." 

Alice's  hands  trembled  so  that  she  could 
scarcely  unfold  the  epistle  ;  and  she  was  so 
agitated  with  joyful  anticipation,  that  the  chil- 
dren declared  that  they  could  not  hear  a  word 
that  she  read  ;  so  Major  Cameron  took  back 
the  letter  and  commenced  it  again. 


120  lizzie's  return  home. 

"  Dear  father,  dear  sisters,  —  I  never  loved 
you  all  so  well  before  in  the  world  as  I  do 
now  ;  and  I  can  scarcely  contain  my  joy,  when 
I  tell  you  that  in  two  weeks  more  I  expect  to 
be  at  home.  I  have  some  other  news,  too, 
which  will  be  very  delightful  to  the  children, 
but  I  will  put  it  off  a  little  while,  as  I  am  sure 
that  I  have  told  you  enough  already  to  make 
you  all  as  happy  as  I  am. 

64  I  wrote  two  long  letters  some  time  since, 
to  be  sent  with  a  package  which  a  friend 
of  Uncle  James  was  going  to  carry  to  the 
South  ;  but  he  discovered  that  it  had  been 
left  through  mistake  ;  so  you  must  have  been 
wondering  what  had  become  of  me.  I  cannot 
go  over  now  the  account  which  I  gave  in  them 
of  my  employments  for  the  last  two  months  ; 
but  I  shall  have  such  a  budget  to  tell,  as  will 
keep  the  children  amused  through  many  of  the 
long  evenings  next  winter  ;  and  I  know  even 
father  will  smile  at  some  of  my  adventures  in 
the  city. 

"  You  remember  that  I  did  not  much  like 
Jane,  at  first,  and  before  I  had  been  here  long, 
we  had  a  right-down  quarrel  about  country 
people  and  the  South.     She  made  fun  of  me, 


lizzie's  return  home.  121 

because  I  talked  so  much  about  the  servants, 
and  spoke  of  them  so  familiarly,  and  said  she 
should  think  that  they  were  my  intimate  friends. 
I  could  not  stand  this,  and  so  I  told  her  that 
Susan  had  more  sense  than  half  the  ladies 
whom  I  had  seen  in  New  York.  She  seemed 
to  think,  after  I  had  made  this  speech,  that  I 
was  a  perfect  goose  ;  but  Cousin  Tom  took 
my  part,  though  this  only  made  the  matter 
worse.  Aunt  Mary  blamed  her  before  me, 
but  then  she  talked  about c  hot  Southern  blood,' 
and  I  saw  that  it  troubled  her  because  her 
own  niece  and  her  husband's  daughter  did  not 
agree  better,  and  I  began  to  feel  very  unhappy 
and  homesick. 

"  I  was  sitting  alone  in  the  parlour  one 
morning,  in  one  of  my  very  worst  moods, 
when  the  door  opened  and  our  dear  Miss  Fen- 
wick  came  in.  I  did  not  know  that  she  was 
in  the  city,  so  you  may  imagine  how  delighted 
I  was.  Before  she  hardly  had  time  to  ask 
about  you  all,  I  had  told  her  the  whole  story 
of  my  grievances,  —  how  Jane  and  I  quar- 
relled, and  how  heartless  New  York  people 
were,  and  what  a  pity  it  was  that  I  ever  left 
home. 

11 


122  lizzie's   return  home. 

fC  She  listened  to  my  story  as  patiently  as 
she  always  used  to  do  to  our  complaints,  and 
after  compassionating  me  very  kindly,  she  be- 
gan to  show  me  wherein  I  had  been  myself 
to  blame.  She  then  asked  what  I  had  been 
doing  since  she  left,  and  at  first  I  found  it  hard 
to  tell,  as  I  had  wasted  so  much  of  my  time 
in  looking  out  of  the  window,  and  walking  up 
and  down  Broadway  shopping  for  things  I  did 
not  want. 

"  I  could  not  think  of  a  single  book  that  I 
had  read,  or  any  sewing  that  I  had  done  ;  and 
for  the  first  time  remembered  what  she  had 
told  me  before,  of  my  being  as  much  account- 
able for  the  days  I  spent  while  visiting,  as  if 
they  were  passed  at  home.  When  I  had 
scraped  together  all  that  I  had  done  or  seen 
which  could  possibly  be  of  any  benefit  to  me, 
she  replied  with  that  sorrowful  smile  which  she 
always  used  to  have  when  we  had  done  wrong 
and  she  did  not  want  to  blame  us  severely. 

"CI  see,  Lizzie,  what  is  the  matter  with 
you.     This  constant  dissipation  has  put  your 
mind  into  a  very  bad  state,  and  it  was  impos- 
sible that  you  should  be  otherwise  than  unhap 
py.     I  should  be  sorry  if  it  were  not  so,  fo; 


123 


our  Creator  has  kindly  ordered  this  uneasiness 
of  mind  when  we  are  not  living  according  to 
his  will,  for  the  same  reason  that  we  are  made 
uncomfortable  by  food  which  is  not  good  for 
us.  Nothing  will  ever  content  you,  my  child, 
until  you  obey  his  commands  ;  and  when  you 
seek  pleasure  in  constant  excitement  and  for- 
getfulness  of  serious  things,  you  will  always 
become  unhappy.' 

"  '  But  it  is  all  the  fault  of  this  hateful  New 
York,'  I  exclaimed  ;  '  and  I  wish  that  I  was 
out  of  it,  or  that  Cousin  Jane  was  not  such  a 
provoking  girl.' 

"  Miss  Fenwick  blamed  me  very  much  for 
speaking  so  hastily  ;  and  after  a  long  conver- 
sation, I  promised  to  try  if  I  could  not  enjoy 
the  remainder  of  my  visit  here  by  living  more 
as  if  I  must  account  for  the  manner  in  which 
my  time  was  passed. 

"  The  next  morning  I  reopened  my  neg- 
lected Bible,  and  read  in  it  nearly  an  hour  be- 
fore breakfast  ;  and  when  Cousin  Jane  came 
down  into  the  dining-room,  and  said  some  very 
provoking  things,  I  did  not  feel  in  the  least  in- 
clined to  reply  to  them.  After  breakfast,  I 
went  out  shopping  for  Aunt  Mary,  though  at 


124  lizzie's  return  home. 

first  I  disliked  the  idea  of  walking  so  early  in 
the  morning  ;  but  the  effort  did  me  good,  and 
I  bought  some  white  plaid  muslin  to  make 
some  aprons  for  Jennie  and  Margaret,  which 
Aunt  showed  me  how  to  cut  out.  Jane  began 
to  laugh  at  me  for  being  so  suddenly  industri- 
ous ;  but  she  soon  got  tired  of  sitting  by  the 
window  by  herself,  and  finally  said  she  would 
try  and  hem  the  strings  for  me.  I  knew  that 
she  did  not  sew  nicely,  and  was  on  the  point 
of  refusing  her  offer  ;  but  I  remembered  my 
good  resolutions,  and  turned  down  the  hems 
for  her  the  width  that  I  wanted  them.  When 
Cousin  Tom  came  in  from  school,  he  said  that 
we  looked  like  a  sewing  society,  and  he  would 
be  the  minister  and  read  to  us  ;  and  though  he 
began  in  fun,  he  found  the  book  more  interest- 
ing than  he  expected,  and  kept  on  reading  for 
as  much  as  an  hour. 

"  But  I  shall  never  get  to  the  end  of  my 
letter,  if  I  am  so  particular  in  telling  you  every 
thing  that  I  did.  I  know,  in  writing  home,  I 
ought  to  try  and  amuse  you  all  with  accounts 
of  what  I  see  ;  but  it  seems  so  good  to  have 
some  one  to  write  to  about  my  own  little  pri- 
vate feelings  and  trials,  which  it  is  not  the  cus- 


lizzie's  return  home.  125 

torn  to  tell  to  every  body  in  New  York,  as  I 
used  to  do  at  borne,  that  I  forget  bow  selfish 
I  am. 

"  O  dear  !  Cousin  Jane  has  just  been  in  my 
room,  and  says  that  Tom  will  go  with  us  on 
board  a  ship-of-war  with  the  officers  of  which 
he  is  acquainted,  if  I  will  be  ready  in  ten 
minutes.  I  shall  only  have  time  to  say  that 
the  last  few  weeks  of  my  visit  here  have  been 
very  pleasant,  and  it  was  my  own  fault  that  I 
did  not  enjoy  it  before. 

"  Now  for  the  good  news  !  Who  do  you 
think  is  coming  home  with  me  to  stay  all  win- 
ter ?     Miss  Fenwick. 

"  Don't  be  too  much  delighted.  I  am  afraid, 
in  your  joy  at  meeting  her  again,  you  will 
scarcely  have  a  welcome  for  your  poor  Lizzie. 
Her  health  is  not  very  good,  and  she  dpes  not 
like  to  remain  at  the  North  during  the  cold 
weather  ;  and  on  this  account  her  relations 
have  at  last  consented  to  let  her  return  to 
Walnut  Hill.  She  was  delighted  to  hear  that 
we  had  not  yet  procured  a  teacher,  for  I  be- 
lieve she  does  love  us  as  well  as  if  we  were 
her  own  children.  I  do  hope  that  Ally 's  foot 
is  well. 

11* 


126  lizzie's  return  home. 

"I  am  myself  in  perfect  health,  and  only 
sorry  that  I  am  obliged  in  such  haste  to  sign 
myself  your  own  loving 

"Lizzie." 

In  an  hour  after  the  reception  of  this  letter, 
every  thing  at  Walnut  Hill  seemed  to  have 
been  moved  out  of  its  ordinary  place,  and 
every  body  to  have  forsaken  their  usual  occu- 
pation. Even  down  in  the  kitchen  there  was 
universal  commotion  ;  for  as  soon  as  the  fami- 
ly had  finished  Lizzie's  letter,  Mary  had  car- 
ried it  down  to  read  to  the  servants,  who  shared 
fully  in  the  delight  of  the  children. 

"  Well  !  well  !  "  said  old  Aunt  Polly  ;  "  I 
never  thought  that  I  should  live  to  seen  Miss 
Amely  again,  poor  old  woman  that  I  am,  with 
such  a  misery  in  my  back,  and  a  wheezing  all 
day  ;  the  very  sight  on  her  will  do  me  good." 

"  Bless  Miss  Lizzie's  good  heart  !  Lord 
help  the  child  ! "  exclaimed  Aunt  Becky,  who 
in  her  way  was  a  pious  Methodist.  "  The 
dear  critter  is  fond  of  home  as  ever,  and  an't 
coming  home  wTith  no  big  notions  arter  all. 
She  allers  was  monstrous  warm-hearted  ;  but 
to  think  of  her  gettin  mad  with  her  city  cousin, 


lizzie's  return  home.  127 

over  the  water,  about  us  poor  black  people, 
just  like  my  old  mistress,  for  all  the  world  !  " 

There  was  no  end  to  the  capers  that  James 
cut  on  the  occasion  ;  and  when  sent  to  the 
pump  to  fill  a  pitcher  with  water,  he  brought 
it  back  to  the  house  as  empty  as  it  went,  en- 
tirely forgetting,  in  his  confusion,  what  he  was 
sent  for.  Susan  was  such  a  sensible  servant, 
that,  no  matter  what  was  the  matter,  she  went 
quietly  on  with  her  work,  and  before  the  rest 
had  finished  their  exclamations  of  surprise  and 
joy,  she  had  commenced  putting  Miss  Fen- 
wick's  room  in  order  for  her  reception. 

Poor  Alice  did  long  so  to  fly  around  with 
the  children,  and  do  something  to  prepare  for 
the  new-comers  ;  but  her  foot  confined  her  to 
the  sofa,  where  she  was  left  alone  to  her 
pleasant  thoughts. 

The  next  day,  the  little  Camerons  pleaded 
for  a  vacation,  as  children  always  do  when 
there  is  anything  unusual  going  on  at  home  ; 
but  Major  Cameron  thought  that  it  would  be 
perfect  folly  for  them  to  waste  so  much  time  ; 
and  he  knew,  besides,  that  the  weeks  would 
seem  much  shorter  if  they  were  occupied. 

Alice  also  went  on  regularly  with  her  little 


128  lizzie's  return  home. 

scholar,  and  was  more  engaged  than  ever  in 
making  her  perfect  in  her  recitations,  that  she 
might  pass  a  good  examination  in  her  studies 
when  Miss  Fenwick  arrived.  The  little  teach- 
er had  had  her  trials  while  instructing  Jennie, 
and  was  convinced  how  many  times  she  must 
have  wearied  Miss  Fenwick,  when  not  aware 
that  she  was  taxing  her  patience.  Now,  espe- 
cially, she  had  need  of  all  her  self-command  ; 
for  Jennie's  mind,  from  being  at  home,  was 
constantly  distracted  by  something  that  was 
going  on,  and  it  was  almost  impossible  to  fix 
her  attention.  By  dint  of  hard  labor,  how- 
ever, she  recited  every  day  till  that  fixed  for 
Lizzie's  arrival,  and  then  Alice  was  herself 
too  full  of  other  thoughts  to  be  very  strict  in 
requiring  perfect  attention. 

Hew  nicely  the  little  Camerons  looked,  as 
they  all  stood  together  in  the  porch,  watching 
to  catch  the  first  glimpse  of  the  travellers  ! 

There  was  Alice,  who  had  been  able  to 
walk  to  the  door,  now  seated  in  a  rocking- 
chair,  in  a  pretty  pink  gingham  dress,  with  her 
hair  braided  very  nicely,  and  tied  with  ribands 
of  the  same  color.  She  was  a  little  pale,  it  is 
true,  from  her  long  confinement,  but  joy  had 


lizzie's  return  home.  129 

given  her  eyes  unusual  brightness,  and  lent  a 
delicate  rose-color  to  her  fair  cheek.  She  sat 
straight,  too,  and  this  made  her  figure  look 
almost  as  well  as  Mary's,  whose  new  purple 
lawn  was  very  becoming.  Jennie  and  Mar- 
garet were  not  too  much  occupied  with  the 
thoughts  of  their  sister  and  Miss  Fenwick,  to 
smooth  their  white  aprons  complacently  down 
over  their  blue  muslin  dresses,  and  give  an  ad- 
miring glance  at  their  new  bronze  boots. 

"  There  comes  a  carriage  !  It  is  turning  up 
this  way  !  It  must  be  they  !  O,  delightful  ! 
O,  yes  !  we  all  know  that  straw  bonnet  with 
the  green  riband  and  veil,  which  Lizzie  wore 
away,  and  now  we  can  see  her  smiling  face." 

The  Major  is  riding  up  beside  them  on 
horseback,  and  the  love  of  the  fond  father  re- 
ally makes  him  look  handsome,  as  he  lifts  Liz- 
zie from  the  carriage,  and  imprints  the  warm 
kiss  of  paternal  affection  upon  her  glowing 
cheek. 

<c  Don't  smother  your  sister,  children,"  he 
cries,  while  he  hands  Miss  Fenwick  from  the 
carriage. 

O,  those  were  happy  faces,  but  still  there 
was  a  tear  in  Alice's  eye ;  for  she  had  suffered 


ISO 


so  much  since  she  parted  from  Miss  Fenwick, 
that  she  could  not  keep  from  weeping,  as  she 
threw  her  arms  once  more  around  her  dear 
teacher's  neck. 

Lizzie  did  not  wait  to  take  off  her  bonnet 
before  she  flew  down  to  the  kitchen  to  see  all 
the  servants  ;  and  then  she  must  go  out  imme- 
diately to  the  barn  to  see  a  little  colt  which 
was  to  be  hers  ;  and  then  the  roses  and  jessa- 
mines were  duly  visited,  before  she  could  be 
induced  to  sit  down  for  a  moment. 

Mary,  and  Margaret,  and  Jennie  all  accom- 
panied her  in  these  excursions,  and  then  seated 
themselves  around  her  trunk,  while  she  opened 
it  and  drew  forth  the  various  presents  that  she 
had  procured  for  the  family. 

In  the  mean  time,  Alice  had  walked  into  the 
parlour  with  her  father  and  Miss  Fenwick, 
where  she  was  listening  to  an  account  of  their 
journey,  the  picture  of  joy.  She  was  too 
much  occupied  to  hardly  notice  a  very  pretty 
dress  which  Mary  came  to  display,  but  her 
attention  was  arrested  when  Jennie  ran  in  ex- 
claiming, —  "  Only  see,  Ally,  what  a  beautiful 
Bible  sister  Lizzie  has  brought  you  !  She  says 
you  will  like  it,  because  it  is  a  Poly —  some* 


lizzie's  return  home.  131 

thing.  I  don't  know  what  she  means,  but 
has  n't  it  a  pretty  cover  ;  and,  see  !  there  's 
your  own  name  in  gilt  letters  on  this  side,  — 
'  Alice  Cameron.'  " 

This  gift  was  truly  acceptable  to  Alice,  who 
had  longed  for  a  reference  Bible,  and  in  her 
excitement  she  was  getting  up  to  go  and  thank 
Lizzie,  without  thinking  of  her  foot,  when  her 
father  reminded  her  of  her  infirmity. 

Lizzie  had  not  forgotten  a  human  being  in 
the  whole  house  ;  Jennie  had  as  pretty  a  wax 
doll  as  she  could  desire,  and  Margaret  one  ex- 
actly like  it,  while  Major  Cameron  was  pre- 
sented with  a  pair  of  slippers  which  his  daugh- 
ter had  worked  during  her  stay  in  the  city. 
Every  one  of  the  women-servants  received  a 
new  handkerchief  for  their  heads,  and  the  men 
and  boys  nice  tippets  for  the  next  winter. 

In  the  evening,  Major  Cameron  was  obliged 
to  go  out  for  an  hour  or  two,  and  Miss  Fen- 
wick  called  the  children  up  into  her  room, 
where  she  had  been  occupied  since  tea  in  un- 
packing one  of  her  trunks,  that  she  might  be 
in  readiness  for  the  Sabbath. 

"  Will  you  let  me  see  your  text-books 
now  ?  "  she  asked  ;  "  for  I  can  tell  by  them 
something  of  your  improvement." 


132  lizzie's  return  home. 

u  Will  you  go,  Mary,  into  our  room  and  get 
them  ?  "  said  Alice.  "  You  must  not  think," 
she  added,  turning  to  Miss  Fenwick,  "  that  I 
have  obeyed  all  that  I  have  written  down.  I 
nave  found  that  it  is  much  easier  to  know  what 
is  right  than  to  practise  it." 

"  But  you  have  not,  I  hope,  forgotten,  my 
child,  that  He  who  gave  you  these  rules  for 
your  conduct  also  bestows  the  strength  to 
obey  them,"  said  Miss  Fenwick. 

"  O,  no  !  "  said  Alice,  warmly  ;  "  I  know 
that  God  never  requires  of  us  what  we  are  not 
able  to  perform." 

Miss  Fenwick  now  occupied  herself  in  look- 
ing at  the  selections  which  Alice  and  Mary 
had  made  from  the  Bible,  and  expressed  her 
gratification  at  their  choice  of  texts.  Mary 
had  of  late  written  but  a  few,  but  these  were 
appropriate  ones,  and  were  put  down  with  great 
care. 

Alice  had  had  time,  during  her  long  confine- 
ment, to  write  a  great  many,  and,  though  she 
did  not  tell  Miss  Fenwick,  she  had  learned 
them  all,  so  that  they  were  constantly  in  her 
mind. 

After  looking  through  the  text-books,  Miss 


lizzie's  return  home.  133 

Fenwick  went  to  her  trunk,  and  took  from  it 
two  singularly-shaped  boxes,  covered  with  mo- 
rocco, and,  opening  them,  showed  the  girls  that 
they  contained  all  that  was  necessary  for  writ- 
ing, —  ink,  sand,  wafers,  seals,  pens,  &c. 

"  You  will  find  these  very  convenient,  my 
dear  children,"  she  said,  "  in  carrying  out  our 
plan  ;  and  I  hope  these  new  pens  will  write 
many  more  texts,  as  excellent  as  those  I  have 
just  read.  And  here,  dear  Lizzie,"  she  add 
ed,  taking  out  a  large  writing-case,  "  is  some- 
thing of  a  similar  kind,  which  I  hope  may  be 
acceptable  to  you  ;  and  which,  I  trust,  you  will 
sometimes  devote  to  the  same  purpose." 

Margaret  and  Jennie  now  began  to  look 
towards  the  trunk,  full  of  eager  expectation, 
and  were  soon  delighted  u7ith  two  beautiful  lit- 
tle books,  filled  with  pictures,  which  they  felt 
like  sitting  down  to  read  immediately. 

"  And  now,  good  night,  my  darling  chil- 
dren," said  Miss  Fenwick  ;  "for  I  am  very 
tired,  and  must  go  to  rest  early,  that  I  may  be 
prepared  to  enjoy  to-morrow,  which  you  know 
is  Sunday.  We  can  then  have  as  much  more 
conversation  as  we  wish,  and  shall,  I  hope, 
enjoy  another  of  those  delightful  days  to  which 
12 


134  lizzie's  return  home. 

I  have  looked  back  with  so  much  pleasure. 
Lizzie  shall  sleep  with  me  to-night,  and  we 
can  afterwards  see  what  arrangements  will  be 
best  for  the  future.' ' 


CHAPTER  XI. 


WHEN    ARE    WE    HAPPIEST: 

It  was  a  sweet  Sunday  evening,  and  the 
Camerons  were  delighted  once  more  to  gather 
around  their  dear  teacher  and  receive  her  affec- 
tionate counsels.  The  lamps  were  not  lighted 
as  twilight  came  on,  for  it  was  still  too  lovely 
without  to  close  the  shutters,  and  the  children 
loved  to  watch  for  the  appearing  of  the  stars. 

"  O,  see  that  large  one,  low  dowTn  in  the 
sky  !  "  said  Jennie,  as  she  pointed  out  Venus, 
which  was  just  above  the  horizon. 

"  And  there  is  another  sweet  one,"  said 
Alice,  as  she  looked  admiringly  at  Lyra,  which 
had  now  appeared  in  the  blue  sky,  nearly  over 
her  head.  "  It  is  not  so  large  as  Venus,  and 
yet  I  like  it  quite  as  well." 

u  What   makes   the   stars   so   different  ? " 


136  WHEN   ARE    WE    HAPPIEST  ? 

asked  Margaret.  "  They  are  not  all  of  the 
same  size,  and  some  are  so  much  prettier  than 
others." 

"  They  are,  indeed,  very  unlike,"  replied 
Miss  Fenwick,  "  for  such  was  the  will  of 
Him  who  foimed  them  ;  but  not  one  has  rea 
son  to  complain,  for  all  are  clothed  in  glory, 
and  have  their  place  in  heaven.  So  it  shall 
be  with  us  in  the  world  to  come,  if  we  are 
God's  children  here.  We  may  differ,  c  as  one 
star  differeth  from  another,'  but  each  shall  wear 
a  shining  robe  of  light,  and  have  a  full  share 
of  eternal  happiness." 

"  O,  tell  us  more  about  that !  "  said  Alice. 
"  Since  you  have  been  gone,  I  have  often 
longed  to  ask  you  more  about  heaven,  and 
how  we  could  tell  if  we  were  prepared  to  en- 
joy it." 

"  Do  you  remember,  dearest,"  Miss  Fen- 
wick replied,  as  she  placed  her  hand  fondly 
upon  the  head  of  the  eager  questioner,  and 
looked  into  her  soft  eyes,  —  "  do  you  remem- 
ber that  I  told  you  once,  unless  you  could 
catch  a  glimpse  of  heaven  here,  you  would  not 
be  contented  there  ?  Now  tell  me,  my  children, 
what  has  made  you  most  happy  since  I  have 


WHEN   ARE    WE    HAPPIEST  ?  137 

been  gone,  and  see  what  kind  of  a  heaven  that 
would  make,  if  you  should  always  enjoy  the 
same  thing.  By  this  means  you  may  tell 
whether  you  are  prepared  for  the  bliss  that 
God  has  in  store  for  those  who  love  him.  If 
your  greatest  earthly  enjoyment  resembles  the 
descriptions  in  the  Bible  of  the  pleasures  of 
the  world  to  come,  you  must  be  in  some  meas- 
ure prepared  for  the  society  of  angels  and 
just  men  made  perfect.  Come,  Lizzie,  it  is 
your  turn  to  speak  first.  What  has  made  you 
most  happy,  since  I  left  ?  " 

Lizzie  had  been  standing  by  the  window  for 
some  moments  in  silence,  and  now  that  she 
turned  round,  Miss  Fenwick  saw  that  her  eyes 
were  filled  with  tears,  for  she  had  been  think- 
ing of  her  own  unworthiness,  and  the  great 
goodness  of  her  Heavenly  Father  in  restoring 
her  to  her  dear  home.  "  I  think,"  she  re- 
plied, in  a  faltering  voice,  u  that  the  happiest 
hour  I  have  ever  known  was  on  the  Sunday 
before  I  left  New  York,  when,  after  asking 
God  to  forgive  me  for  all  my  sinfulness  there, 
I  felt  the  full  value  of  that  Saviour  through 
whom  the  most  sinful  may  hope  for  pardon." 

"My  dear  child,"  said  Miss  Fenwick,  as 
12* 


138  WHEN   ARE    WE    HAPPIEST  ? 

she  rose  from  her  seat,  and,  putting  her  arm 
around  Lizzie's  waist,  drew  her  tenderly  to- 
wards her,  —  "  such  feelings  prolonged  would 
indeed  be  heaven,  for  it  is  the  employment  of 
all  the  spirits  in  glory  to  sing  the  praises  of  a 
Saviour's  love.  And  you,  my  darling  Alice," 
she  asked,  uwhen  have  you  been  happiest?" 

The  color  came  and  went  quickly  in  Alice's 
cheek,  and  a  tear  stood  in  her  eye,  but  still 
her  whole  face  was  radiant  with  joy,  as  she 
answered,  —  "I  have  never  been  so  happy  as 
a  moment  since,  when  I  heard  Lizzie  say,  that 
she  had  learned  to  value  the  love  of  Christ, 
and  to  hope  for  pardon  through  him." 

u  My  precious  children  !  "  exclaimed  Miss 
Fenwick,  deeply  moved,  as  she  placed  her 
other  arm  around  Alice's  waist,  and  drew  her, 
too,  more  near  to  the  heart  which  was  filling 
fast  with  emotions  of  thankfulness.  "  It  would, 
indeed,  be  a  world  of  joy  in  which  our  whole 
time  was  spent  in  rejoicing  in  the  tidings  of 
the  salvation  of  those  we  love,  for  such  news 
fills  the  hearts  of  angels  with  gladness.  And 
you,  my  Mary,  when  have  you  been  hap- 
piest ? " 

Mary  paused  for  a  moment,  and  thought  of 


WHEN    ARE    WE    HAPPIEST  ?  130 

all  the  holydays  which  she  had  enjoyed  during 
the  summer.  Suddenly  the  evening  rose  in 
her  memory,  on  which  they  had  all  resolved 
to  cherish  the  spirit  of  peace,  and  she  felt  that 
it  was  worth  all  the  hours  of  gayety  that  she 
had  ever  known. 

"  I  do  not  know,"  she  replied,  "  when  I 
have  been  more  truly  happy,  than  after  I  had 
resolved  to  love  my  sisters  better,  and  never 
again  to  say  to  them  a  hasty  or  unkind  word. 
I  have  sometimes  broken  the  resolution  since, 
but  it  always  makes  me  miserable  now,  when 
there  is  any  disturbance  among  us." 

"  I  cannot  tell  you,  Mary,  how  much  pleas- 
ure your  answer  gives  me,"  said  Miss  Fen- 
wick,  affectionately  ;  "for  I  know  you  too 
well  to  suppose  that  it  is  not  the  real  language 
of  your  heart.  '  Peace  on  earth  and  good- 
will to  man  '  wTere  the  blessings  that  wTere 
promised  at  the  Saviour's  birth,  and  peace 
is  also  among  the  fruits  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 
But  I  see  that  my  little  Margaret  is  all  ready 
to  tell  me  what  makes  her  most  happy." 

**  Seeing  you,"  said  Margaret,  eagerly,  be- 
fore the  question  was  hardly  asked. 

Miss  Fenwick  smiled,  as  she  replied, — "  I 


140  WHEN    ARE    WE    HAPPIEST  ? 

am  not  sure,  my  child,  that  such  an  enjoyment 
would  please  you  for  ever  ;  yet  I  trust  that 
even  in  heaven  it  might  add  to  your  happiness 
to  meet  one  whose  dearest  wish  has  been  to 
prepare  you  for  that  '  home  of  the  blest.'  You 
must  not  forget  how  much  more  you  owe  to 
your  kind  Creator  than  to  her  whom  he  has 
sent  to  train  you  up  for  his  service." 

"  O,  that  is  the  reason  why  I  love  you," 
said  Margaret,  earnestly  ;  "  it  is  because  you 
teach  us  how  to  be  good." 

"  Well,  that  is  better,  Meggy  ;  for  to  grow 
in  goodness  will  be  the  work  of  eternity. 
Does  my  little  Jennie  know  when  she  is  hap- 
piest ?  "  asked  Miss  Fenwick,  turning  to  the 
youngest  child,  who  sat  on  a  footstool  waiting 
eagerly  for  her  turn  to  answer. 

But  now  the  question  had  come,  Jennie 
hesitated,  and  then  said,  blushing  and  hanging 
her  head  down  on  one  side,  —  "I  don't  know 
whether  I  was  the  happiest  yesterday,  when 
Lizzie  brought  me  home  that  big  doll,  or  one 
day  that  I  did  not  get  out  of  temper  or  say  an 
unkind  word  to  anybody." 

"  I  think  you  will  find,  my  dear,"  said  Miss 
Fenwick,  "  that  you  had  more  true  enjoyment 


WHEN    ARE    WE    HAPPIEST  ?  141 

upon  the  day  that  you  mention,  and  as  you 
grow  older,  you  will  learn  that  every  sin  which 
you  can  conquer  will  prepare  you  for  heaven. 

u  And  now,  my  children,"  added  their  kind 
teacher,  as  Major  Cameron  approached  the 
house,  and  the  last  stars  came  twinkling  out, 
"you  have  given  a  better  answer  than  I  ei< 
pected  to  the  question,  c  When  are  we  hap- 
piest ? '  May  God  enable  you  all  to  enjoy 
many  such  hours  of  happiness  on  earth,  and 
thus  prepare  you  for  heaven." 


THE    END. 


